A Saturday night that marked the fifth game in seven days for the Celtics, six over their last nine, nearly resembled the end of a daunting stretch last year in Milwaukee. The Bucks leaped on the same Boston starting lineup early and Joe Mazzulla sat them by halftime.
Most players didn’t talk post-game as Mazzulla defended the loss as a one-off that it proved to be in an all-time season. The Grizzlies, trying a strategy that few had before, put something on film that ensuing opponents will undoubtedly try to emulate.
This loss, 127-121, progressed differently than that Milwaukee one in a similar circumstance. The Celtics fought throughout, but mostly trailed before taking a fourth quarter lead. The attempted 60 threes, directing the bal where Memphis wanted it to go over-and-over. Injuries to Kristaps Porziņģis and Sam Hauser exacerbated Al Horford’s absence, so Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta took the floor for the first time to begin the fourth. Jrue Holiday didn’t play the final seven minutes of the game after starting 8-of-26 from the field.
Yet Mazzulla took to the podium after, acknowledging the adjustments the Grizzlies forced them into in a weird game while daring rivals to try it again. Bring it on.
“It’s a bold strategy,” he said. “He’s an all-star. He shoots over 40% from three. That’s a risky one and I thought he handled it great. I thought he handled it great. We empowered him, we want him to shoot any shot that he’s open and I think that’s a huge gift. Now, we’re gonna see it again and it’s gonna be great for us. I’m really happy that they did that for us and I thought the teammates did a great job empowering Jrue to shoot. He didn’t make it, but you move on. I’m glad that we saw that and it’s gonna be good for us.”
Holiday’s line — a career-high 17 first half shots and 17 three-point attempts that shattered his previous high of 13 with New Orleans in 2019 — overshadowed Marcus Smart’s return. The addition of Holiday, stepping into Smart’s former role after the Celtics traded Smart in 2023, allowed Boston to truly become five-out when he rocketed to 42.9% three-point shooting. This year, Holiday entered Saturday only 34.3% from deep, then dropped to 34.8% while open and 35.8% while wide open. Even his absurd 60.4% (91 att.) efficiency in the corner from one year ago fell to 30.6% (49 att.) so far this year.
Smart entered to a loud ovation four minutes into the game and he immediately challenged Jayson Tatum with a mid-range pull up miss. He took five attempts in his opening stretch, missing them all, including another mid-ranger and a three that he missed and tried to put-back through Neemias Queta, who blocked him. Memphis led, 31-27, after one quarter, playing high on Boston’s shooters and reaching the free throw line nine times on offense. Holiday warmed up to 3-of-8 shooting in the opening frame. The Celtics broke a record for threes taken in a first quarter, but only hit 7-of-23 (30.4%).
Memphis would go away from Smart after seven minutes and two misses in the second half. Holiday logged 13 minutes and missed five threes before he took a seat. The Grizzlies only attempted 33 threes.
“It didn’t catch me off guard,” Holiday said. “I feel like every team lets me shoot, even yesterday. Obviously you have Jayson and Jaylen and people getting to the paint, I’m usually a recipient of that. Tonight, some of them went in and some didn’t. (It felt) a little different, but you gotta keep shooting them. I’m too wide open not to. Honestly, I kind of liked it. It’s been a while since I’ve been shooting that much. Just gotta see one go in, two go in then from there, the floodgates will happen, but I’ll continue to shoot. I saw it right away. Jaren Jackson was all the way in the paint, leaving me wide open, but every shot to me felt good.”
Early in the third quarter, Holiday surpassed the most shots he’d taken in a game with Boston, 18 at Philadelphia last November, before taking three more shots in short order. The Celtics tried to do the same to Brandon Clarke, who levitated over them for alley-oop after alley-oop behind Luke Kornet and Boston’s other dropping bigs. Ja Morant hit four straight threes over the Celtics’ drop, and drove past Porziņģis for a soaring reverse jam. Memphis led by 12 at halftime and maintained that lead early into the the third until Boston began attacking inside. It was their night.
The Celtics kept taking threes after Porziņģis returned from a first half ankle sprain with back-to-back makes from Tatum. Porziņģis and he attacked Jay Huff to pull within six before Holiday grabbed a miss by Tatum to hit Payton Pritchard for his fourth three in six tries after a 0-point effort on Friday.
Boston trailed by two, and took their first lead in the fourth on back-to-back threes by Jaylen Brown, who attempted only five shots in three quarters and Pritchard, who didn’t take one over the final eight minutes despite playing that entire stretch. Mazzulla, missing Hauser in the second half with back tightness while Horford rested, tried Kornet and Queta together for the first time ever. Jackson went at them, beginning a string of five fourth quarter floaters.
Scotty Pippen Jr. gave the Grizzlies the lead and Jackson hit a three after Boston kept the duo in out of timeout, lining the bigs up for a 10-0 run that vaulted Memphis ahead by six. Mazzulla mentioned them putting Boston on its heels with their transition attack. That’s why Boston played big late, trying to slow them and counteract their three-point misses with offensive rebounding.
Brown and Jackson traded twos midway through the frame until Porziņģis and Tatum scored five straight and pulled Boston within one possession. Then, Tatum missed a free throw, turned the ball over and Porziņģis fouled Morant, who scored 32 points in 34 minutes, putting Memphis back in control. Desmond Bane followed with five straight to slam the door, setting an example for how to beat Boston that nobody on the Celtics saw as repeatable. Brown experienced a similar tactic against the Warriors last year, and embarrassed them in a 52-point Celtics romping that forecasted a dominant championship run. Could this open the door to stopping a repeat?
“Teams gotta try to do magic tricks, pull rabbits out of the hat to try to throw us off,” Brown said. “We just gotta be mentally strong, encourage one another and just play basketball. Take what the defense gives us, no need to overthink it. It’ll be good to get some days off. It’s been tough scheduling, so tonight I don’t think was the best indication of Celtics basketball. I feel like we fought to the end, but I think tonight is a night we put it behind us.”
