For over 40 minutes of game time on Friday night, the Memphis Grizzlies ran the Boston Celtics out of the gym. The score may not have told that story, but the game did. Memphis outran, outhustled, and outshot the Celtics.
But none of that will go in the record books.
Instead, a Derrick White, Luka Garza-led final push led the Celtics to a 117-112 victory in Memphis, saving what would have been an ugly loss on the schedule.
1. Luka Garza’s dominance
Taylor Hendricks is 6-foot-9. He was the tallest active player for the Grizzlies on Friday night. And though Garza is only 6-foot-10, he looked closer to the monster he was at Iowa than the reliable role player he’s become in Boston.
Garza camped the paint all night, finding his usual success on the offensive glass. Without his extra efforts in that area, Boston’s offense may have collapsed completely.
He finished the night with 22 points and seven rebounds (five offensive boards), but the fourth quarter was his masterpiece.
In the final frame, Garza shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, tallying 11 points and snagging two offensive rebounds. And some of the plays he made were more heart than talent.
Like here. Garza had no business getting a hand on this ball. Olivier-Maxence Prosper had him boxed out, and Tyler Burton had a hand draped over his head.
Yet somehow, through the power of sheer will, Garza got a hand up, tipped the ball back toward the basket, and scored.
But it was more than just offensive rebounding for Garza. That’s become commonplace for him this season. He also found a way to impact the offensive end with his spatial awareness.
Watch the shot clock wind down on this play. White gets caught in a flurry of Grizzlies defenders, and Garza is at the top of the key.
He could have stayed spaced there. He could have tried to give White room to get to the hoop. But he saw the seconds dwindling, and as soon as Prosper turned his back, he made his move.
Garza ran toward the rim, White threw a gorgeous pass through Memphis’ defense, and Garza finished a tough reverse layup while his momentum was taking him out of bounds.
That type of floor spacing was crucial to the Celtics’ success, especially down the stretch. Combined with his elite offensive rebounding, that’s how Garza left his mark on this basketball game.
2. Derrick White’s fourth quarter
Garza will get most of the shine from this game. And rightfully so; he was incredible. But without White’s fourth-quarter performance, the Celtics would be flying back to Boston with an extra tick in the loss column.
The start of the fourth was ugly. Ty Jerome nailed two circus shots in the Celtics’ faces, and Joe Mazzulla called a timeout.
He could have said anything to White during that timeout. Maybe he said nothing. But whatever happened flipped a switch inside of White. And from that point on, the Grizzlies couldn’t do anything to slow him down.
First, it was a driving floater. White kept his foot planted, waited for the defense to jump, then finished at the rim. Then, a deep three.
And at last, there was this play. White doesn’t find anything on his initial probe, so he kicks to Hugo Gonzalez to reset. When Gonzalez passes the ball back, Hendricks tries to lunge for a steal.
White immediately drove the closeout, but watch what happens when he gets in the lane. It’s small, so watch closely.
He stutter steps just above the free-throw line. It’s a fraction of a second, but it forces the entire Grizzlies defense to stay with their matchups along the three-point line instead of collapsing in the lane.
Then, one quick pass-fake to Garza was enough to earn himself a clear scoring chance at the rim.
White went on a personal 7-0 run to completely erase the seven-point lead Memphis had built for itself (their biggest lead of the game).
But White’s scoring wasn’t his only offensive contribution on Friday night.
The Grizzlies did a great job of pressuring the ball all night, but in the fourth, White beat the press. Obviously, the slip pass to Garza in the above section was a beauty, but this pass fell under the radar.
Memphis goes to trap White above the three-point line, but he sees Garza slipping toward the rim. He slings a one-handed pass just as Hendricks turns his back to get back to Garza in the paint.
White had the ball on strings in the fourth quarter.
3. Grizzlies ball pressure
Memphis’ ball pressure in this game was one of the main reasons they were able to blitz Boston. They played within the flow of the defense, switching often and constantly forcing the Celtics’ ball-handlers to work in tight windows.
Like on this play. The term ‘blitz’ isn’t often used so literally in basketball, but that’s exactly what happened here.
DeJon Jarreau saw the hand-off coming before it happened and completely jumped the play. But at the same time, Hendricks was right up against Neemias Queta on the play, and Javon Small was just a step behind White.
Memphis played this perfectly.
But their ball pressure was also backed up by
