The New Look Celtics Kicked Off Their Season With Everyone's Favorite Tradition Of Burying The Process

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

There's this thing about me that whenever the Boston Celtics play any sort of basketball game, I care about how they do. I care about what they do well, what they struggle with, and I'm someone who prefers if they are going to keep score, the Celts find a way to win that game. I don't care if it happens in the preseason, regular season, playoff, or Finals. When this team steps on the floor, I believe in what they do matters.

Now, because technically these games do not count, I don't really put much stock into beating the Sixers. That's old news. James Harden and Joel Embiid didn't play, but even if they did we know that doesn't really make a difference when it comes to this matchup. So this isn't really about the Sixers or even the result. 

But this game still had intrigue because it was our first look at the new look Celtics. I think we'd all become a little antsy waiting to see how Brad's latest experiment would look, even if it was for short spurts. On paper, it looks ridiculous, but would that actually translate to the floor? That's what I wanted to see. 

Our answer was you bet your fucking ass it did. I wouldn't even say the Celts played all that well either, and they still threw up 114. There were times when you could see the changes and how that's going to be a problem for opposing teams, and there were also a lot of the same issues that we had to live through last season that still need to be ironed out. All in all, it was about what you should expect from a first preseason game with some awesome moments mixed in.

You're probably going to see a lot of "who cares, this is preseason" which to that I say….me. I care. You probably care too or else you wouldn't have clicked this blog. We waited over 120 days for Celtics basketball to return to the Garden, and boy did it. 

The Good

Our day started yesterday with news that Payton Pritchard agreed to a 4/30M extension to stay with the Boston Celtics. Considering about 9 months ago he was not so quietly asking to be traded, that's quite the turnaround. I think we all knew what a tough year last season had to be for a guy that one minute was making huge threes in a Game 7 vs MIL and then playing minutes in the NBA Finals to suddenly getting DNP-CDs. That would weigh on anyone, especially someone as competitive as Payton.

Now after all the trades, I was very excited to see how Pritchard would handle this new found role. Contract extension aside, this is a pretty important season for Pritchard. Given what their guard room looks like, he needs to deliver and be a productive player. 

We heard quotes from Sam Hauser about how Payton was "out for blood" this year, and I wondered what that meant exactly. Well, I'm thinking something like this

Like so many of his Celtics teammates before him, Payton Pritchard buried the Process. A team best 26/4/2 on 9-14 (6-11) in his 23 minutes, Pritchard was incredible. The saying "put the team on his back" gets thrown around a lot, but that's honestly exactly what Pritchard did. Over the final 7:07 of this game with the Celtics needing someone to step up and close, Pritchard outscored the entire Sixers roster 13-10 to secure the win. When it came time for someone to make a huge bucket in the final minutes, Pritchard responded.

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To me, this looked like the Pritchard from 2021-22. That shooting is just so fucking legit. Spot up, catch & shoot, off the dribble, it doesn't really matter. Once he sees the ball go in he's immediately locked in, and seeing as how he's going to have so much spacing to work with no matter what lineup he's on the floor with, it's very important that he continues to shoot his 40% from deep. Remember, legit 3P shooters Brogdon/Grant are now gone, which means getting that consistent high level shooting from the bench is going to be crucial.

I also couldn't help but notice Payton was much better as a creator in this game and actually did a nice job of getting into the paint and remaining aggressive. Remember early in his career when he would drive into the paint and then just pick up his dribble and spin around? Now that's a turnaround jumper. His 4 AST were second on the team, only training Tatum. 

To start your day securing 30M and then to end it by dropping 26 points in 23 minutes. Not a bad day for Payton Pritchard.

- While it's fun to watch Pritchard go nuclear, the real intrigue of last night surrounded the new guys and it took literally one possession for Kristaps Porzingis to show exactly why Brad Stevens was willing to pay the price he did to bring him to Boston. He really is an offensive cheat code

A new team, a packed arena, tons of pressure to perform right away, you would kind of understand if KP struggled a little bit as he got used to his new team. Instead, he was nails from the opening tip. You knew once he hit his shot/three exactly why Brad made this trade. What KP can do in space is legit terrifying, and he's going to have a whole bunch of space on this team. 

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While it was terrifying to watch him go up for alley oops given the history of those things with new players and this team, we got the full display on both ends. Offensively the threes were nice, but how about that little midrange pullup on the elbow? That's a shot that no Celtic big was taking last year. Not only that, but how about 8 FTA! 

That may not seem like a big deal, but it sneaky is. Al Horford took like 10 FTA all season long. Rob never really got to the line. Well now with Porzingis he's good enough to put the ball on the floor in space from the perimeter and has the ability to draw contact. This is a man with a 0.409 FTA rate which would have been #1 on the entire Celtics roster last season. Having that element added to the Celts offense is going to be a big deal.

Then defensively we saw the length and rim protection next to Horford which was terrifying, I thought he did OK in drop playing P&R, and most importantly he came away healthy. I didn't see any issues with his foot or anything along those lines.

- Everyone knows how much of a disaster the ECF was for Jaylen Brown. It was the worst series of his career and you could make the case it ultimately cost the Celts a title. 2022 was Tatum's Finals, 2023 was Jaylen's ECF. After then signing his supermax deal, all eyes are going to be on Jaylen from here on out. Everything he does is going to be magnified, that's just something that comes with the territory.

So how did he look in his debut? A cool 19 points on 70/50% shooting

Overall I thought Jaylen looked mostly like himself, which last time I checked was an All NBA player. There were still some moments of tunnel vision and forcing things with the ball that need to be worked out, but overall this is a version of Jaylen that the team will need moving forward. I'd also like to see him hit the glass a little more, ending the night with 3 in 25 minutes felt a little low, but that's nitpicking.

- We heard a lot about a diversified offense, and I'm starting to wonder if that means more Tatum post ups. He looks bigger for sure, and I can't ever remember a time when he looked for contact like he did in this game. His shot was dogshit (3-13, 0-4), so what did he do? He got his ass on the block and got to the line (9 FTA). While I have some concerns about that playstyle over a full season, I do like the fact that on a night where he couldn't buy a bucket Tatum still found a way to be effective. I feel like in earlier years he would just keep chucking, but seeing as how the Sixers were small as shit, Tatum chose the bully ball approach instead. 

That's something I'm making a note of. 

- Al looks spry because of course he does. He's an ageless wonder. He hit a three, had 4 boards in his 20 minutes to go along with a couple blocks, pretty much giving the Celts exactly what they need. This should surprise no one, because this is just what Al Horford does. Had Embiid played, Horford would have had him in hell….again. Loved what I saw from Al in his short stints.

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- The same is true for Oshae Brissett and Lamar Stevens. All I really need from those two guys is to hustle, attack the offensive glass and secure putbacks. Maybe hit the occasional open 3PA if they feel like getting spicy.

Safe to say that's exactly what we got

Ed Malloy is such a loser for calling that an offensive foul. Grow up dude, it's preseason.

- How about the Celts not shitting down their pants in a close game with under 3 minutes to play? I didn't even know they could do that! They didn't turtle, in fact they locked in and executed! What a nice surprise.

The Bad

- While he was still able to make an impact with his 10 boards and 5 assists, Tatum's shooting performance in this debut was rather brutal. That shouldn't surprise you, it's pretty standard for his preseason/early season, but 3-13 (0-4) from your best player against a team that has zero wing defenders was…..not great. Missing 2 FTs also annoyed me a little bit. Those are free. 

- For all the well deserved hype about the Celts new point of attack defense, I couldn't help but wonder where the hell it was in this game. Both Derrick White and Jrue Holiday didn't really do shit to limit Tyrese Maxey from getting to wherever he wanted to go, and even if part of that was a high screen, so what. Figure that shit out. The Celts defense to start this game wasn't exactly what I would call "lockdown" and as we know that starts at the perimeter. If you can't prevent penetration, everything falls apart.

You shouldn't be giving up 57 first half points to a team that is without their top 2 scorers. All the quotes we heard all summer was about getting back to defense, and I'm not sure it really looked all that different from last season.

- Like Tatum, a tough shooting debut for Jrue Holiday at 2-10 overall. I thought he was great in the 3rd quarter in terms of his active hands and causing TOs which started fastbreaks, but with only 1 assist in his 21 minutes, this was basically a Marcus Smart-type of performance. I imagine his nerves were crazy and this being the first game with his new team he obviously deserves some slack, but in terms of his approach offensively it's going to take him some time to play out of his MIL days. The Celts don't need that type of offensive approach from Holiday. Just knock down your open looks, create for others, and defend. That's the formula for him.

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- I'm ready to instill a law that nobody is allowed to throw Luke Kornet any type of pass that isn't an easy lob right at the rim. Don't pass it to him with a bounce pass off the P&R, don't give him any sort of dropoff pass around the rim, he's fumbling every single one. It's honestly impressive how he simply cannot catch a basketball. 

A team worst -12 in his 12 minutes, the 3 TOs really hurt him.

- It was a shame we didn't see Jordan Walsh, JD Davison or any of the other news guys like Svi/Gabriel. I imagine that's because the Celts also play tonight, but I thought it would have been cool to give Walsh his first taste of NBA basketball at the Garden in front of his home crowd. 

- 8 missed FTs. If you think I'm not going to care about that because this was a fake game, this might be your first time ever reading this blog. That's disgusting.

The Ugly

- Sam Hauser is on this team to make threes. Unfortunately, going 0-6 (0-6) is the exact opposite. While his defense was good and he looks more confident handling the ball, I'm going to need to see the 3s. Just like with Pritchard, Hauser being a 40% three point shooter is VERY important for the bench, especially if he wants to be in the rotation. Can't go 0-fer.

- The defensive rebounding was a bit of a concern. No Embiid and it still didn't matter. The Sixers had 14 OREB and took 95 FGA to the Celts 85. No Celtic other than Tatum had more than 5 rebounds. Too many times we saw a Sixers miss and then the ball hit the floor, only for someone on PHI to get it. I know Rob is gone, but he also missed the first 29 games last year and the Celts found a way to rebound. Just like we saw in the playoffs, this team asks for trouble when they do not finish defensive possessions cleanly. The rebounding moving forward has to be much better. 

In terms of a first look, I'd give the new look Celtics a solid B. Nothing crazy, some room for improvement, and most importantly I'm just happy that Celtics basketball is back in our lives again. Now we'll see how they look against the Knicks, a confident and physical team making their own home preseason debut. This isn't going to be like the soft Sixers, the Knicks certainly aren't goint to let you bully them around, so I'm interested to see how the Celts handle that.