The Celtics hit the ground running in their preseason opener on Wednesday night, building a 23-point halftime lead on their way to a 121-103 blowout win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Jaylen Brown led the way for Boston with 21 first-half points in 20 minutes before being rested in the second half. Derrick White also nearly had a double-double in the first half, finishing with 16 points and 10 assists against a shorthanded Grizzlies squad.
The hot starts from Brown and White helped Boston build a double-digit advantage quickly out of the gate, after a 9-0 run midway through the first quarter. The success continued in the second quarter for the visitors, with the Celtics using an 8-0 run to begin the frame to push the lead up to 20 points and holding strong to the double-digit advantage for the final three quarters in the convincing rout. Rotation players Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons, and Neemias Queta all got the night off with Boston having a stretch of three games in five days.
Jaylen Wells had a team-high 19 points for the Grizzlies, who played with several rotation players, including Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., while trailing by as many as 29 points in the defeat.
The Celtics have a quick turnaround after the win as they close out their road trip in Toronto on Friday night at 7 p.m. against the Raptors before returning to Boston for two final preseason games.
Here are four takeaways from Wednesday’s win over the Grizzlies.
Jaylen Brown looks in midseason form: The All-Star forward will be getting a host of additional offensive opportunities this season with Jayson Tatum sidelined, and he made the most of them Wednesday night. Brown showed little sign of his offseason knee surgery as he looked spry in Boston’s uptempo offense, finding a good rhythm in isolation situations against the Grizzlies defense and in transition. He made six of his 13 field goal attempts in just 20 minutes while also getting to the free throw line eight times. The Grizzlies did not have their usual personnel to make life tough for him defensively, but Brown looked to be in a great rhythm, essentially in the midrange by drawing contact and creating separation.
Hugo Gonzalez makes a memorable first impression on defense: The rookie out of Spain had an up-and-down Summer League, but one area that looked promising was his defense. That trend continued on Wednesday night as Gonzalez tallied a team-high three blocks off the bench, including a stellar chasedown swat in the fourth quarter to stop a Grizzlies fast break. The 19-year-old also added a steal at half court that led to a highlight reel dunk for him to finish the sequence. The young wing looked solid in a complementary role offensively as well, knocking down a transition 3 and handling some point guard duties in the second half. If Wednesday’s performance is any indication, Gonzalez will be spending much more time in Boston than in Maine this season.
Xavier Tillman looks like a different player: With Queta getting the night off, Tillman got the start at center against his former team alongside new addition Chris Boucher. Tillman has been upbeat all training camp about his health after being limited by a knee injury for a huge part of last season, and it was easy to see why in Boston’s win. Tillman showed strong versatility with his switching on the defensive end and much better mobility on the whole. He also finished off an alley-oop from Josh Minott in the second quarter on a fast break, a play he probably wouldn’t have been physically capable of finishing last season. There will be plenty of minutes up for grabs in the center rotation this year, but Tillman placed himself firmly in the mix with this performance alongside Queta and Luka Garza (10 points, 10 rebounds).
Joe Mazzulla has this group playing hard: It’s tough to take too much out of any NBA preseason contest, but it was evident in this one just how much more effort the Celtics were putting in compared to the Grizzlies. New faces like Chris Boucher and Josh Minott were crashing the offensive glass hard all night, Boston pushed the ball off made and missed baskets, and the Celtics got more than their fair share of 50-50 balls. This is the mentality this team will need to have every night to stay in the East playoff picture and overcome their talent exodus this offseason.