Heading into Thursday Night’s primetime match vs Memphis, the Boston Celtics knew two things for certain: they needed someone to step up in Jaylen Brown’s absence and they needed to get back to defense.
Looking to build off of a solid comeback win over Atlanta on Tuesday, Boston would look to continue their defensive improvement. Coming off of the All-Star break, the C’s defense had slipped a bit, allowing 128 points to the Pacers.
By holding Atlanta to just 33 points in the second half on Tuesday, Boston showed that they respond to Ime Udoka well, as the first-year coach called for defense improvement.
Thursday served as the first real test in some time for Boston. Memphis entered the game as the three seed in the West with a 43-20 record. MVP candidate Ja Morant entered the night scoring a combined 98 points in his last two contests.
The Grizzlies came in fresh off of back-to-back wins over the Spurs and Bulls.
Thursday night’s matchup featured a Grizzlies team who would be without Dillon Brooks due to an ankle injury. The Celtics, as mentioned, would be without Jaylen Brown due to an ankle injury as well.
The C’s entered the matchup as -2.5 point favorites over the Grizz.
The first half was a solid back and forth grind of an affair with the halftime score of 47-45 in favor of Boston. The second half was the tale of the tape, however, as the shamrocks exploded to outscore Memphis 73-62.
Morant led all scorers with 38 points while Jayson Tatum was not far behind with 37. Al Horford continued his solid campaign posting 21 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
The Boston Celtics improved to 38-27 with the win, while Morant’s squad would fall to 43-21.
The win did come at a cost, as Aaron Nesmith was helped off the floor with an ankle injury.
Taking all of that in, let’s look at tonight’s 3 takeaways: