What to Know
- The Celtics opened their preseason with a 124-113 win.
- Luka Garza scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading the way in a hustle-filled game.
- Devin Carter, the former Sacramento King who signed an Exhibit 10 contract in September, scored 17 points off the bench.
- Jayston Tatum, Paul George, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Mitchell Robinson, Neemias Queta and Derrick White did not play.
- The Cavs played their starters — except James Harden — for the first half.
This will surprise nobody, but Joe Mazzulla has built a basketball team that is going to hustle.
That was the main takeaway from the Celtics’ preseason opener, a 124-113 win over the Cavs in Cleveland.
While Jayson Tatum and the C’s starters didn’t play, the Cavs did play their starters, minus James Harden. But the likes of Luka Garza, Hugo Gonzalez and Baylor Scheierman in Boston’s starting lineup as well as Dillon Mitchell, Chris Cenac Jr. and Devin Carter off the bench all contributed to a strong 11-point win.
The C’s will now head back home for a preseason meeting with the Sixers on Saturday night. That’s not expected to be Jaylen Brown’s return, but you never know.
For now, check out all that happened in this game in the live blog below..
Eddie House’s first impression from the C’s preseason opener?
“I loved the hustle, by the guys that are fighting to find rotation spots, to get into the rotation and also get onto this team. They played extremely hard,” House said on Celtics Postgame Live. “I gotta give credit to management, to the coaching staff, for having these guys ready like that and having them prepared to come out here and play. … Just the way that they played, how hard they played — they played the Celtics way.”
If Devin Carter wants to be on the Celtics this year, he’s going to have to earn his spot. So far, he’s made a strong case.
Carter scored 17 points with five rebounds, three assists and two steals (with five turnovers) in his 25 minutes off the bench in the win over the Cavs. Afterwards, he spoke about how he’s trying to prove that he’s worth a spot.
Bayloy Scheierman drained a game-high four threes en route to scoring 16 points for the Celtics, and Luka Garza shared how impressed he’s been with his teammate’s development.
In case you missed it, Joe Mazzulla assigned Tony Dobbins to coach the first half and D.J. MacLeay to run the second half of this game.
MacLeay appeared to have been a bit emotional when reflecting on what the opportunity meant to him.
“I got to be the head coach of the Boston Celtics for a half. Can’t feel anything but gratitude for that,” MacLeay said. “Yeah, it was cool.”
Luka Garza summed up the evening, noting that his teammates “came out with the right attitude” in Cleveland.
