10 Takeaways From The Celtics Grit & Grind Win Over Grizzlies

1. Escaped the Trap Game

Coming into this game, the Memphis Grizzlies had 10 players listed as OUT on the injury report and were running out guys on two-way deals and 10-day contracts against a mostly healthy Boston Celtics team only missing Nikola Vucevic. This has the recipe for a gold old fashioned Trap Game and it looked like the Celtics were falling into it early. Boston looked really slow and had trouble controlling the ball, turning the ball over 11 times in three quarters.

The Grizzlies had the lead for long stretches of this game and late into the fourth quarter, the Celtics were down 103-102 with 5:33 left. Boston then rattled off a 15-9 run to end the game, outscoring Memphis 33-24 in the fourth, and only turning the ball over 1 time. This was a big time test for the Celtics on the road despite the opponent. Playing through adversity to come away with a win.

2. Win With Bad Three-Point Shooting

Going into this game against Memphis, the Celtics had a record of 5-10 when shooting under 30% from three as a team this season. In this game Boston shot 26% (11-42) from three while Memphis shot 33% (14-43) and the Celtics still came out with the win.

This was a result of the Celtics taking advantage of the Grizzlies lack of real interior defense. Boston scored 52 points in the paint while Memphis scored 44. The Celtics shot 26-40 in the paint tonight, 20-29 at the basket alone. This was a huge reason why Boston was able to get back into this game when Memphis started out the fourth quarter on fire. This shows real resiliency from this team and finding different ways to win.

3. Dominant Offensive Rebounding

Another big reason why the Celtics were able to win this game was their work on the offensive glass. Out of Boston’s 57 rebounds, 18 of them were offensive and some of the biggest came in the fourth quarter from Luka Garza and Baylor Scheierman.

With the Celtics down by 1, Scheierman grabbed a huge offensive board that resulted in a Jaylen Brown bucket that kicked off Boston’s game winning run down the stretch.

When it came to Garza, he generated 4 crucial points to ice the game for the Celtics, putting them by 9 points with 1:15 left. This clutch offensive rebounding is how Boston is able to win games despite not having the best shooting nights.

4. Mazzulla Trusted His Guys

At the end of the third quarter, the Celtics were trailing the Grizzlies 88-84. They looked lethargic with Memphis outscoring them 34-29 in the quarter so Joe Mazzulla switched up the lineups. He started out the fourth quarter with a lineup without both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Boston had Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, and Luka Garza to start and it didn’t go great.

By the 9:08 mark, Memphis rattled off a 10-4 run where Ty Jerome started to go crazy and Mazzulla called a timeout. Instead of putting in the Jays, he came out with the same exact lineup, putting trust into these guys. I would say it worked out great. Not only taking the lead, but rattling off an 11-3 run before Brown and Tatum checked back in at the 5:41 mark.

When asked about keeping the lineup without the Jays in out of the timeout, Mazzulla said: “I thought that just that lineup hadn’t played the game. I wanted to just give a different feel to a segment of the game, and went to a couple different actions, and I thought it was just a different field there. So it’s a credit to the guys.”

I thought this was a huge confidence builder for the bench guys in this game. Showing that even without Brown and Tatum, Joe has lineups that he can throw out there that will still produce and overcome adversity to keep the Celtics in the game.

5. White 4th Quarter Takeover

Derrick White started this game 3 points on 1-1 in the first quarter. He then proceeded to miss his next four shots, going into the fourth quarter with the same 3 points. In White’s postgame press conference he said he “was playing as bad as it gets for three quarters so I had to help the team out a little bit” in the fourth quarter and he did just that. White played all 12 minutes and scored 11 points on 5-10 shooting to lead Boston to the win.

White did a great job when it came to driving inside on the Grizzlies defense. He was using an array of euro-steps and deceleration to finish at the basket. Most of his points came after Joe Mazzulla called a timeout and kept the lineup with White and the bench in the game. This looked to light a fire under White and responded with a big time performance to close out the game.

6. Brown Carried in the Second Half

White was not alone when it came to carrying the Celtics offense in the second half because Jaylen Brown was right there with him. Brown finished with 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists with 14 of those points coming in the second half alone.

Brown played the entire third quarter and finished with 10 points on 4-8 shooting. He was the only guy who was able to hit a shot for Boston but it was important in keeping them in the game despite being down. He diced up Memphis with his midrange game, just making some incredible shots.

When he came into the fourth quarter, he continued to cook up the Grizzlies with his fadeaway jumper and ability to get to the paint. This was Brown’s 32nd 30+ point game this season which leads players in the Eastern Conference and tied for 3rd in the NBA this year. Just continuing to build on his MVP level season.

7. Garza Monster Performance

Luka Garza’s nickname is the “Garzilla” and I would say he lived up to it with a monstrous performance against the Grizzlies. Garza finished with a season-high 22 points and 7 rebounds on 9-12 shooting from the field and 1-3 from three. This was easily the best game of Garza’s Celtics career and was a testament to how hard he hustles every night.

I would say his fourth quarter was where we saw the biggest impact from Garza, finishing with 11 points and 3 rebounds on 5-5 shooting. Garza hit his one three pointer of the game to start the fourth quarter but the rest of his points came underneath the basket. His ability to clean up the offensive glass was incredible, finishing with 5 on the night but 2 of them came down the stretch when the Celtics needed them most.

The Celtics ability to develop productive NBA centers in a lab has to be studied but it is also a testament to how hard Luka Garza is willing to work. With Nikola Vucevic going down, it has given Garza a chance to show what he is really made of.

8. Queta Double-Double

The other Celtics big man that was able to go off in this game was Neemias Queta who finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds on a perfect 4-4 shooting from the field and 4-4 shooting from the free throw line.

Queta, similar to Garza, did a great job of taking advantage of the Grizzlies lack of an interior defensive presence. Queta’s best quarter came in the second where he scored 8 of his points on 3-3 shooting. He did a great job of cleaning up offensive rebounds and showing off some nice finishes under the basket.

Queta was benched in the fourth quarter of this game for Luka Garza but I don’t that is necessarily a testament to him but more of just riding the hot hand with Garza. Either way I think Queta played a pretty solid game.

9. Scheierman Winning Plays

Baylor Scheierman did not finish with a stat line that is going to jump off the page or anything, 2 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists on 1-2 shooting. However, if you watched the game, you would have seen Baylor make some incredible winning plays that justify him being on the court.

The first came at the end of the first quarter when he made an incredible steal and pass ahead to Hugo Gonzalez who finished with a poster dunk.

Scheierman also did a great job when it came to taking two charges in this game. He was able to absorb the contact and force the offensive foul and shifting momentum to the Celtics.

In the fourth quarter, we saw Scheierman play 11 minutes and make some big plays on offense when it came to being in the right place at the right time for rebounds and scoring his only points.

Plays like these are why I love watching Baylor Scheierman play for the Celtics. He is such a smart basketball player and most importantly he’s a winner. Mind you, he’s doing all of this with a broken thumb and still playing like if he takes a break he will get taken out of the rotation. It’s hard not to love a guy a like Scheierman.

10. First “Bad” Tatum Game

For the first time since his return I think we qualify this as a bad game for Jayson Tatum. He finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds on 3-15 shooting from the field and 2-9 from three. Although the numbers look bad, I would say his performance as a whole wasn’t the worst. He did a great job when it came to generating open looks but the shots just weren’t falling. The thing that makes it a bad game in my mind was the fact he finished with 0 assists but that could also be chalked up to the fact the Celtics were bricking everything they shot.

Tatum missed his first 8 shots in this game but for the 3 that he did make, they looked solid. His three point shoot looked smooth and he was able to finish on one of his drives late in the fourth quarter as the Celtics were making their big run to ice the game.

This being the 7th game that Tatum has played coming off his Achilles tear is not lost on me. I don’t think we should slander Tatum for this game because rebounding and ability to get to the free throw line were positives. This game just happens to be the worst one he’s had so far which is perfectly fine since he is still coming back. I don’t think theres any cause for concern.