After Their Biggest Blowout Win Of The Season, The Boston Celtics Remain An Extremely Hilarious Team

Maddie Meyer. Getty Images.

Let's begin with the obvious. The Memphis Grizzlies are not good. Part of it isn't their fault, as a majority of their normal rotation is out injured, but their issues go deeper than health. As of now, they are one of those teams that fit into the "bad vibes" category, and once that happens to a team in the NBA, you can imagine what comes next. Everyone lives through it at some point as a fan, hell even the Celts went through this stage before the 2020s. When the losses start to pile up, when you continue to get absolutely demolished on a nightly basis, those bad vibes seep into every part of your season and ultimately, you're cooked.

I think it's also important that I make myself very, very clear when it comes to this game specifically. I do not give a single shit that the Grizzlies are bad. Why? Because I enjoy watching the Celts play well and go belt to ass, and frankly given what has happened these last few games, I think we all needed to see a performance like this. The players needed it to remind themselves that actually, they don't have to miss every shot they take. The fans needed to see it to be reminded that oh yeah, when this team plays the right way and doesn't play like assholes, even this roster can be pretty successful. 

A performance like this doesn't suddenly mean that all their flaws are gone. It doesn't mean we won't see a game in the future where the Celts give up a buzzer beating OREB putback because someone couldn't box out to lose another winnable game. That's not what I'm saying. I'm simply saying

With their 3rd game in 4 nights and another B2B before 3 days off, this absolutely could have been a trap game, especially once Ja was ruled out. We just lived that nightmare the night before against the Sixers with Embiid sitting. So the fact that right from the jump the Celts handled their shit was very much a relief. This was never close, and I for one am thankful for a stress free night of hoops.

It also shouldn't be overlooked that in the Joe Mazzulla Era, the Boston Celtics are now 32-11 on B2Bs. That, is insane. Especially when you remember they didn't play Horford in B2Bs and often didn't have Porzingis either. The previous 4 years before Joe? When it was the combo of Ime/Brad? The Celts went a combined 25-28 in B2Bs. 

If the Celts want to have a real season, then it requires making sure you handle the bad teams. There are enough tough challenges over the course of 82, so you need to make sure you stack the Ws against bad teams if you yourself want to avoid being a bad team. That's even more true when playing at home, and that's exactly what they did.

The Good

- When I say belt to ass, I mean it. This was a wire to wire ass kicking, with the Celts leading by as much as 38 points. There were zero ties and zero lead changes. Celts dominated in pretty much every category, finishing with more FGM (50 vs 32), more REB (58-41), more points in the paint (44-38), more 2nd chance points (34-12), more fastbreak points (14-5), more 3PM (21-10), more AST (34-25), the list goes on and on.

The only area they didn't really dominate was FTs (21-10), but what else is new. The Celts haven't won a single FT battle in any game this season I believe, which is very funny. Fouls are up all across the league it seems, except for the Boston Celtics. Hilarious bit. 

This single performance took their point differential from +2.1 to a +4.7, which is currently the 4th highest total in the entire conference. That's also what makes their 6-7 record both hilarious and infuriating. If they could have just grabbed a rebound or if Derrick White/Payton Pritchard hit a shot to start the year, they're probably sititng with the 2nd or 3rd best record in the East. 

The Celts currently sit as one of the few teams in the NBA that's top 10 in both offense (9th), defense (8th), and net rating (8th)

If only they could play dogshit teams every game, but alas…

- I think it goes without saying that if the Celts want to snap out of this funk and play to the level we are accustomed to seeing, then both Derrick White and Payton Pritchard need to snap out of whatever funk they've been in to start the year. That's always been true, but in a year where they are your #2 and #3 option, it's basically non-negotiable. They have to produce for this team to win.

Thankfully, sometimes all it takes is playing a slumpbuster of a team to get you right. I thought both Payton and Derrick were terrific in this game. With Payton, what we saw against the Sixers was unacceptable stuff. The very definition of un-impactful hoops. Last night? Much, much better

It wasn't just the shotmaking (though that was great to finally see), it was his overall impact. Another great playmaking night with 9 AST and 0 TOs, active on the glass, a good mix of paint FGA and 3PA, good defense, I thought Payton was great at setting the tone in this game. I never really understood why there were some fans who somehow were under the impression Payton Pritchard forgot how to shoot, and you're seeing why his being in the starting spot makes sense. He's able to impact that game in a wide variety of ways, on both ends of the floor. 

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With Derrick, I'm convinced nobody on the team (maybe outside of Hauser right now) needs to see the ball go in more than he does, especially on the wide open C&S 3PA. It's pretty obvious the misses are starting to get to Derrick's brain, so to see him finally make shots last night was such a relief. You could feel him exhale through your television 

The shotmaking has really been the only part of Derrick's season that's been a struggle. Defensively, he's mostly been as good as ever. It's not like he went crazy, just a solid 6-11 (3-6) but given his struggles, the bar was literally on the floor. Of course we need to see this type of production and efficiency continue and also show up against teams with a pulse, but you have to start somewhere.

What this game did was remind us all how important guard play is to winning. That hasn't just been true for this version of the roster, it's always been the case no matter who was on the floor. In 2025, you need good guard play. When those guards are your 2nd and 3rd best players, it's even more important. We'll never know which version of the bigs we're going to get, so the guard play has to be consistent. When it is, games like this are possible.

- To that point, GREAT job by the guards to finally identify Queta on the short roll and continue to feed him the ball. That's something that was easily correctable in film, so it was great to see after they missed Queta so much against PHI that they were very aware of his rolling against MEM. He's having a great year and for a team that can struggle to score at times, there's no need to make things harder on yourself. Just hit the roller! 

The development of Neemias Queta has absolutely been one of the bright spots of this early season. Not only is he backing up what we saw in EuroBasket, I'd argue he's been even better. We're seeing a guy develop into a legitimate NBA center, and a guy who went from the 4th/5th option as a big to a player who could absolutely be a backup center on a team trying to win a title. With each passing game he's getting better and better, which is really all you could ask for.

You can see him improving at understanding his spacing and where he needs to be as a safety valve option. His screening is getting better, his defense in space is getting better. Once they figure out his late game rebounding issues, we'll really be cooking with gas. We all know how important the center position is moving forward, and I think Queta deserves a lot of credit for turning himself into a real player.

- I would also say the same thing for Jordan Walsh, who got the surprise start. I love how Joe is rewarding the young unproven wings with well earned starts. First it was Minott, now Walsh. The best part? Walsh continues to take advantage of every opportunity and is seriously playing his way into being a rotation fixture. The defense is flat out incredible. 

He no longer looks like a player who is just out there running around hoping not to make a mistake. There's a comfort level you can see in his minutes, and perhaps that's a result of being in the system for a while, perhaps that's a result of knowing he's not going to get pulled for a mistake and can just play free, maybe it's both. The point is, at 21 years old, Jordan Walsh continues to look like a real NBA player, and that is a very, very big deal.

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We saw him have Tyrese Maxey in hell on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday he was doing the same thing to Jaren Jackson Jr. Do you know how impressive that is? His energy plays are helping swing momentum. The shooting is passable (which is all I ask). For those of us who never sold our Jordan Walsh stock, life is about as good as it gets in that department.

- I'm still somewhat worried about an offense that has to rely so heavily on midrange FGA, but as long as Jaylen continues to be the best midrange shooter in the NBA this season (fact, not opion as he's shooting 53%) I guess we'll just have to ride this wave

His footwork continues to be so impressive, as is his ability to create space for this shot with how he uses his shoulder to lean into the defender. He's far too strong for anyone guarding him, and you can tell Jaylen knows it. 

Given his disastrous ending in the Sixers loss, I thought it was important for Jaylen to come back last night and dominate. 19/6/6 on 50/40% and a +29 works for me, and that's what a #1 option does in a game against a bad opponent. They take care of business and move onto the next. Only 25 minutes played too, which was nice to see given the heavy load Jaylen has had to carry so far this season.

- Shoutout Luka Garza man, what a hilarious player. At times, he's a walking disaster. Other times? He's legitimately unstoppable and makes a real impact. Another solid 14/7 on 6-8 (2-3) with 5 OREB, Garza has been really solid these last few games as he's pretty much locked up the backup big spot.

The more I watch him, the more I really do get pre-leap Luka Kornet. When we think of Luke Kornet, mostly you think of the last 2 years where he developed into one of the best backup bigs in the league. But before that leap happened, he was very clumsy, very unplayable at certain times, and was a project.

Does that not describe Luka Garza right now? I'm not saying he's going to turn into the best backup big in the NBA, but I am saying there are signs of a productive player in there. I still have concerns over him being so slow footed and whatnot, but the impact he's making in his minutes these last few games can't really be ignored. Plus he plays HARD AS SHIT at all times, which I will always respect.

- A much better 2pt/3pt balance (51 3PA of their 99 FGA), and what do you know, the Celts put up 131 and won in a blowout. Almost like their playstyle has never been an issue! Imagine that!

The Bad

- It didn't come back to bite them, but 15 OREB is still too many to be giving up for my liking. Some of them were tough long rebounds, but this is something that has plagued this team all year so I don't think we should just ignore that the defensive glass was a bit of an issue at times again just because the Celts were never challenged.

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The fact that the Grizzlies couldn't capitalize off those OREBs doesn't mean it wasn't a problem, and facing better teams if you continue to allow 15-20 OREBs a game, you're going to lose. We know this because it's been the story of the season so far. 

- You can't help but think Jaylen is still dealing with the backlash from his calling out the refs against UTA. There is no way a player that primarily operates in the paint and at the rim is getting 2 FTA a night. No star player in the NBA with that type of shot profile is getting to the line this infrequently. It's getting out of hand at this point. I find it very unlikely that Jaylen Brown is somehow the only player in the NBA not getting fouled. No chance. 

- Tough shooting night for Simons (2-10, 1-6), but the good news is we finally saw him make an impact when his shot wasn't falling, finishing with 7 assists and 0 TOs in his 21 minutes. Usually, a lot of his impact is tied to shit shotmaking, so which his shot was mostly a brick and worthy of this section, I did like his passing and thought he was better on the defensive glass.

The Ugly

- Again, this team was up by 38, never trailed, and was never tied, so how bad could things really have been? What do we even put here?

I'd say the Sam Hauser slump is really the only thing I felt like fit. Another 2-8 (1-7) in his 22 minutes off the bench, the guy is really going through it just like we saw Payton/Derrick go through. His looks are all great, so it's only a matter of time before a lifetime 40% shooter snaps out of this funk, but man it's brutal at the moment

After a 3 day break, the Celts enter a part of their schedule where in theory, they should be able to stack wins. A game against the injured and struggling Clippers, two games against the Nets etc, this is the part of their schedule where they have an opportunity to dig themeslves out of their early season hole. Will they do it? If they play like they did last night, they absolutely should.