BSJ Game Report: Celtics 131, Grizzlies 95 - Boston hit shots, executes well, and earns an easy win

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

IN A NUTSHELL

Derrick White helped build a 14-point first-quarter lead, but a late Memphis run cut it to eight. It hovered around there for a bit until a big finish built a 21-point halftime cushion. That ballooned past 30 in the third and it was never a game after that. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Derrick White is back!: Well, we’ll see if he can carry this over, but this was vintage Derrick White. Whether it was being back home, facing an already bad team missing its best player, or a bit of both, White was everywhere in this game. 

- Jordan Walsh starts: He got his first career start and played pretty well. Unfortunately for him, PA announcer Eddie Paladino didn’t get the right lineups sheet because he announced Josh Minott. So Walsh will have to hope he gets the start on Sunday so he can hear his name. 

But he got matched up on Jaren Jackson Jr. early on, and he took on the challenge. 

“I mean, he's athletic, but he works at it,” Joe Mazzulla said. “I think part of guarding people at different positions is just knowing tendencies, knowing personnel. Him and his player development coach, Tyler (Lashbrook), they work on that a lot. And he just spends a lot of time in the film room to have an understanding of who he's going against. So it's a difficult job, but he's embracing it.”

- The right side of make/miss: The Celtics shot well from 3 for the whole night, which is a nice change of pace. Their balance was basically 50/50 between 3s and 2s the whole game, giving them the kind of math advantage Mazzulla loves. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics turned a five-point game into a blowout with a 23-7 run to end the first half. That run extended to 35-9 early in the 3rd as the lead touched 31. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Derrick White: You remember why. 

He was flying in out of nowhere for steals, getting his signature block, hitting 3-pointers and floaters … This was a wonderful game. Easily his best game of the season, and very in line with the White we remember. 

- Jaylen Brown: Nothing outlandish on a 19/6/6 night on 50% shooting overall and 40% from 3. But he was the catalyst for that second-quarter run that broke the game open. 

- Payton Pritchard: Like White, I hope this is something he can build on. It’s a nice bounce-back game after a tough night in Philadelphia. He finished with 24 points on 8-15 shooting (5-10 3pt), nine assists and six rebounds.

- Neemias Queta: There were a couple of plays, like there usually are, that I was critical of. But he played pretty well. He set good screens, rolled hard, and finished plays. He finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal. 

- Luka Garza: His contribution to breaking the game open came on 2-3 shooting from deep. He answered Jaren Jackson, Jr. a few times down the floor. 

“He's been good, and I think the last three games, he's played some inspired basketball,” Mazzulla said. “He has a special gift to be able to play just harder than everybody else on the floor. He's got to keep that up for us. And he has a way to get, I think he got one like over two, three people there. So he has the ability to kind of do that for us.”

- Baylor Scheierman: It’s not much, but he hit a couple of shots and did alright in his return to the floor after a few DNPs. 

- Josh Minott: I don’t know how long his role will be different, but he brought the same energy. 

- Margins: Celtics put up more shots, more 3s,  shot a ton better from everywhere, grabbled more rebounds, dished more assists, and won the second chance points by a mile. The free throw disparity was still bad (Boston was 10-12 and Memphis was 21-26), and that might not change much, but the Celtics won most of these margins by a healthy amount. 

- Execution: They ended the first half by executing a perfect 3-for-2, 2-for-1, and a last-second layup. It wasn’t a perfect game execution-wise, but it was better. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

You know what? Not today. This section is full enough for most games that I’m not going to nitpick a game that essentially ended at halftime. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- The Celtics (and Derrick White) need this one. 

I do not care that this game against the messy remnants of the Memphis Grizzlies. I do not care the Grizzlies are so bad that the Celtics beat writers are about to issue a challenge to make ourselves feel better. The Celtics needed this. White needed this. 

I’ll get into this more separately, but games like this are necessary. The Celtics can talk about all the good shots they simply missed in past games, and that's certainly true, but guys need to see shots fall. They need to feel like they're working towards something. 

So thanks to the Memphis Dumpster Fire for being the B12 shot the Celtics needed. The Clippers will be a much different challenge on Sunday, but a little confidence to carry into a few days of film and learning from a bunch of mistakes is a very nice feeling for them.

Next Up: The Celtics have three days off before a Sunday afternoon game against the Clippers.