BSJ Game Report: Celtics 131, Grizzlies 91 - Tatum drops 34, Marcus Smart honored, in easy wire-to-wire win

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Grizzlies, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics didn’t seem to exert much effort in building a lead as high as 11 in the first quarter. Memphis made a run while the Celtics went ice cold and cut it to two but a 20-6 run built the halftime lead to 20. The third quarter was fairly even thanks to GG Jackson’s 11 matching the same number from Jayson Tatum. The rest of the game was garbage time. 

Box Score

TURNING POINT

Kristaps Porzignis scored nine of Boston’s 11 points in a run that turned a two-point game into a 10-point game. That run extended to ultimately gave Boston a 20-point halftime lead. They basically toyed with the Grizzlies after that. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Winning with ease: Aside from a lull in the early second quarter, this was a pretty casual win. 

- Jayson Tatum: Finished with 34 points thanks to some blistering hot shooting. He was 6-12 from deep, including an audacious pull up in transition that I’m just going to assume was some kind of tribute to Marcus Smart. He also had eight rebounds and seven assists. 

- Kristaps Porzingis: The game changed when he got aggressive around the rim. He finished with 26 points. 

- The actual tribute to Marcus Smart

I’ll have much more on Smart in a minute and separately. 

- Jordan Walsh: He got his first NBA points on a transition dunk, and no one would have blamed him if he had tried to get a few more. But he never forced the issue, never went on an iso binge, and never looked off a teammate. He tried to make the right play every time, even in garbage time. The only time he hogged the ball was when he grabbed it after the game and took it back into the locker room. 

"At the end of the day, you gotta play the right way," he said after the game, clutching that game ball. "You always gotta feed your dogs, I guess you could say. Just knowing that they trust me in that position to make the right plays is the most important thing."

After the game, Joe Mazzulla credited the Maine coaching staff for making sure Walsh's development was where it needed to be.

"I think what stood out is his growth as a player and understanding the most important thing is defense," Mazzulla said. "I loved his defensive positioning and his defensive physicality, and his instincts, and I think that’s gotten a lot better since the beginning of the year, and I think that’s a challenge for any young player, is really buying into the fact that regardless of what you think you are offensively or how it went in college, you have to play defense, you have to learn defense, and he’s done a great job of that. And then it’s fun for him to, he got his first two points in the Garden, and he continued to play the right way."

Walsh isn't ready for the NBA on a regular basis, but I like where his head is. He understands the assignment, a very key element to the growth of a young player. I feel like he'll be fine in the long run. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Offensive rebounds allowed: I called this before the game in a conversation with Grizzlies reporter KJ Wright. 

The Celtics allowed 12 offensive rebounds before garbage time, a sign of where the Celtics conserved their energy. 

- Passing out of shots at the rim: Okay, I get making the right read, but it felt like the Celtics were more messing around passing out of some of their touches around the rim. 

- Bench scoring: Through three quarters, Boston’s bench was outscored 20-9, even as Boston led by 23. I know there's more to basketball life than scoring, but Luke Kornet, Payton Pritchard, and Oshae Brissett were also -4 through three. It just would have been nice to get something out of them. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- The Marcus Smart angst was always from a vocal minority. 

One thing that stood out to me in this building is the incredible love that almost everyone here had for Smart. The ovations during both his tributes were loud and extended. There were two “Thank You Marcus” chants. 

The feelings for him were strong. The love in the building was palpable. 

Which brings me to the negative feelings I’ve seen for Smart, and the mistake I’ve made over the years: believing the online contingent of Smart haters spoke for more fans than they actually did. 

Plenty of people don’t like Smart or how he played when he was here. No one is universally loved at any time. But a loud, vocal minority of fans made their arguments often, buttressed by notoriously negative radio hosts. The volume at which their arguments were made was misleading. 

"Marcus Smart was the fan favorite," Tatum said after the game. "Everybody knew that. The way he played, he wore his heart on his sleeve and every night he gave it his all. We have some very smart fans, and they saw that and they appreciated that. So it was very cool to see."

Smart was shown an incredible amount of love in this building, both with tributes from the team and unprompted chants from the fans. The record should show how much fans appreciated him despite how loud his detractors were at times. 

Next up: The Celtics host the Atlanta Hawks here at the Garden on Wednesday night