Adam Vinatieri vividly remembers his last game against Morten Andersen.

Andersen had already logged more than 20 seasons in the NFL http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/tyron-smith-jersey , was well into his 40s, nearing the end of his career and still kicking as well as anyone in the league. Back then, Vinatieri marveled at how the seemingly ageless Andersen managed to excel for so long.

Now, more than a decade later, Vinatieri finds himself grinding through his 23rd NFL training camp, hoping to join the NFL's career scoring leader in the Hall of Fame. Andersen was inducted last year.

"I would have liked to have seen a handful more kickers and punters make it in there, but finally getting a second kicker in and Ray Guy getting in, it's good that we have some representation in there because those guys did a lot for the league," the Indianapolis Colts kicker said.

Andersen's induction last year provided hope to specialists such as Vinatieri that they, too, could be headed to Canton, Ohio, one day.

Until Andersen's selection, Vinatieri wasn't sure. The only one other "pure" kicker to earn pro football's highest distinction was Jan Stenerud in 1991. Guy was elected in 2014, ending the shutout for punters.

Some believe Vinatieri could be next.

His sterling resume glistens with Hall of Fame credentials: four Super Bowl rings, the league record for 100-point seasons (20) and second all-time in career scoring (2,487 points). Anderson finished with 2,544 and Vinatieri needs 58 points to break the record Chuck Howley Jersey , which could happen at midseason if all goes well.

He owns the career record for scoring in postseason games (234), is the only player to top 1,000 points and make 200 field goals with two teams, has celebrated a league-record 225 victories, including playoffs, and made a league-high 44 consecutive field goals. If Vinatieri completes this season, he would become only the third 46-year-old player to suit up for an NFL team.

His highlight reel contains some of the most memorable kicks in league history: two last-minute field goals to win Super Bowls and the tying and winning kicks in the infamous Snow Bowl, which helped New England win the first of its five Lombardi Trophies. He has been dubbed the best clutch kicker in league history and there's no indication "Automatic Adam" is slowing down.

"It's ridiculous," holder Rigoberto Sanchez said. "It's honestly out of this world, I think. Twenty-three years in the league, still kicking the ball the way he kicks it, 60 yards out in practice. It's unreal."

Just how much has Vinatieri seen and done during his career?

He is the last link to the NFL's developmental league in Europe, the one Andrew Luck's father worked with, and one of only two players left from the 1990s. Former teammate Phil Dawson is the other.

Vinatieri joined the league before former teammates Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, still reminds people he once tackled Herschel Walker and acknowledges missing on Desmond Howard and Devin Hester as they returned his kickoffs for Super Bowl scores.

He played for Hall of Fame coaches Bill Parcells and Tony Dungy, in addition to Bill Belichick. His newest coach, Frank Reich, actually threw for 281 yards against the Patriots during Vinatieri's rookie season in 1996.

Somehow http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/mitchell-trubisky-jersey , though, he remains the epitome of consistency.

Last year, with a new long snapper and a new holder, Vinatieri still made 85.3 percent of his field goals and scored 109 points and now he's back with his oldest son, A.J., serving as a ball boy at training camp.

"It comes to a point where Adam is Mr. Clutch over here, so (long snapper) Luke (Rhodes) just tries to do his job right and get the 12 o'clock laces and I try to get the ball in the spot that he likes and let him do the rest," said Sanchez, who wasn't even born until a week after Vinatieri's NFL debut in 1996. "He's been kicking it straight for a long time."

Despite the honors, the nicknames and the Hall of Fame predictions, Vinatieri knows he may still need more to follow the kicker he has been watching since his younger days in South Dakota into the NFL's most hallowed halls.

"I don't think it hurts, that's for sure," Vinatieri said. "It's one of those things that I haven't really though too much about it. I'm still just trying to help my team win games and keep on putting chapters in this book and if that happens, fantastic."

NOTES: The Colts have activated starting safeties Clayton Geathers and Malik Hooker from the physically unable to perform list Thursday. Both were coming off knee surgery. ... Guard Jeremy Vujnovich also was activated from PUP. He had been out with an injured calf after starting all 16 games last season.

Boston’s rising stars stalled The Process and led the Celtics to victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Substitute point guard Terry Rozier scored 29, and first-year Celtics forward Jayson Tatum had a career-high 28 points to outplay redshirt rookie Ben Simmons on Monday night and lead Boston to a 117-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

With much of the attention focused on 76ers youngsters Simmons and Joel Embiid, Boston’s youth movement of Tatum and Rozier led the way. Two days after scoring a career playoff-high 26 points in Game 7 against Milwaukee, Rozier topped it, while also adding eight rebounds and six assists.

”It’s been a dream come true. I want to keep going Lorenzo Alexander Jersey ,” said Rozier, who was wearing a Drew Bledsoe Patriots jersey to milk one more chuckle out of his pseudo-feud with vanquished Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe. ”I’m just a guy just living in the moment.”

Embiid scored 31 points with 13 rebounds for Philadelphia, which lost for just the second time in 22 games. Simmons, the likely rookie of the year, scored 18 with seven boards and six assists.

But with six days of rest since eliminating Miami, the 76ers missed 15 of their first 20 shots and hit 5 of 26 from 3-point range to lose for just the second time since March 13.

”We’re NBA players and we have to be ready,” Embiid said. ”We weren’t ready tonight.”

Al Horford had 26 points and seven rebounds for Boston, which will host Game 2 on Thursday night. The Celtics are hoping to have guard Jaylen Brown back from a hamstring injury he sustained in the clincher against the Bucks, leaving him sidelined along with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.

Playing in place of Irving, Rozier picked up where he left off in the first round by scoring 10 points and six assists in the first quarter on Monday night. He was 7 for 9 from 3-point range overall, combining with Tatum to overshadow the lottery picks accumulated by Philadelphia during The Process.

The first overall pick in the 2016 draft who sat out all of last year with an injury, Simmons was heckled by the Boston crowd with chants of ”Not a Rookie!” In the fourth quarter, as Tatum stepped to the free throw line to protect a double-digit lead, the chant turned to ”He’s a Rookie!”

”I love when people talk trash,” Embiid said. ”Keep bringing it, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Tatum was Boston’s first pick last year – third overall – after swapping the No. 1 pick to the Sixers and grabbing a 2018 first-rounder as well. Philadelphia picked Markelle Fultz; he did not play on Monday night.

”It’s been great to see Jayson and Terry and just our guys play like that,” Horford said. ”I think that Jayson’s starting to figure it out. … And it’s great to see for our team.”

It was 33-all with just over seven minutes left in the half when the Celtics ran off 10 points in a row. Horford had four of the five baskets and assisted on the other. Boston led 87-70 in the final minute of the third quarter when Philadelphia scored nine straight points to make it a nine-point game.

After Simmons made a layup to make it 97-88, Horford hit a 3 from the top of the key with 5:30 left and it was never within single digits again.

PUT ME IN COACH

Up until about an hour before game time Geron Christian Jersey , Brown was still trying to figure out a way to play on his strained right hamstring.

The Celtics’ second-leading scorer in the first round with 17.9 points per game, Brown was finally ruled out about a half-hour before tipoff following a conversation with doctors, trainers and Horford.

”Jaylen’s a competitor, I know he was doing everything he could to be out there,” Horford said. ”His health is most important. We didn’t want any setbacks with him. One of the things when I talked to him, I was like `Hey, we obviously really need you out there, but we need you for the long run. We need you to be healthy and to feel good.’

”Hopefully now he has a couple of day to recover and he’ll be back Thursday.”

OLD SCHOOL FEEL

Sixers coach Brett Brown is familiar with the Philadelphia and Boston matchups of the 1980s, having grown up in South Portland, Maine. Though he knows other teams in the East remain relevant, he thinks there is enough young talent on the current 76ers and Celtics rosters to give the rivalry a rebirth.

”I hope so,” Brown said. ”I personally grew up with this rivalry, just right on your doorstep and just a big part of your basketball life as a young kid. It sure seems like both programs are heading into the right direction.”

TIP-INS

Sixers: Embiid is the first Sixer with 30 points in a playoff game since Andre Miller in 2009. He is the first one with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in a postseason game since Allen Iverson in 2001. … Embiid again wore the mask he has needed since missing 10 straight games – including the first two of the playoffs.

Celtics: It was the first time that Boston has had three players score 25 or more points in a playoff game since Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo in 2009. … Hall of Famer and 11-time NBA champion Bill Russell was in the crowd…. Smart missed his first five shots. … The Celtics put T-shirts on every seat that said ”BEAT PHILA.” The ”L-A” were in bold, a nod to the longtime rivalry with the Lakers.

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This story has been corrected in the 6th paragraph to indicate the 76ers missed 15 of their first 20 shots, not the Heat.

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