Ten takeaways from Celtics’ historic night in Memphis

The Celtics completed an undefeated road trip with a 117-103 win vs the Grizzlies.

1. First ever 6-0 road trip in Celtics history

With their win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday, it is the first time in franchise history that a Celtics team went 6-0 on a road trip. The previous record was held by the 1973 Celtics when they went on a 5-0 road trip in February of 1973.

This is the second time in franchise history that Boston has won 6 consecutive road games, tying that record with last year’s team. It is also the 5th time in franchise history they’ve had at least 5 straight road wins by 10+ points in the same season and all of those seasons have resulted in a Finals appearance.

2. Derrick White makes history!

Derrick White tied and broke the Celtics franchise record for three pointers in a season against the Grizzlies. White broke the record that was formerly held by Isaiah Thomas who scored 245 three pointers in the 2017 season.

White tied IT’s record with his first three of the game in the second quarter coming off of a pass and screen from Kristaps Porzingis over the outstretched arm of Desmond Bane.

The record breaking three didn’t come until the fourth quarter and up until that point, White was struggling to get anything to fall for him in this game. That was until he got the switch and had Zach Edey defending him on the perimeter. White pulled up with confidence when he saw Edey guarding him and made the three and history in a single shot.

With Payton Pritchard and Jayson Tatum in striking distance of the record as well, who knows if White will finish with the record. However, this achievement should not be taken lightly as it is an incredible accomplishment for a player like Derrick White. When he was traded to Boston, he was never seen as an elite three-point shooter and has worked hard to become the player he is today.

3. Al Horford continues to age like fine wine

There aren’t a lot of things better than watching an Al Horford masterclass on display and against the Grizzlies, the Celtics got that with a season high 26 points and 8 rebounds on 9-18 shooting from the field and 6-13 shooting from three.

Horford was the difference maker with Jaylen Brown and Luke Kornet out and had his highest scoring output in the regular season when his second stint with the Celtics began in 2022 (not including the playoffs). Horford is also the oldest Celtic since Robert Parish to score 25+ points in a game for Boston and scored 26 points for the first time since February 5th, 2021 when he was a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Horford came off the bench in this game and was aggressive looking for his shot. His first shot of the game was a made corner three coming off an inbound pass from Jrue Holiday who was on the baseline and Horford didn’t slow down from there, going 3-5 from three in the first half.

His best stretch came in the second half where he ended the third quarter on a buzzer beater and hit two clutch threes in the fourth quarter to give the Celtics a double-digit lead that they would hold on to for the rest of the game.

4. Jayson Tatum’s great game

Jayson Tatum had a pretty solid game, scoring 25 points alongside 14 rebounds and 2 assists on 10-24 shooting. The assist total might be the most shocking number, but it wasn’t for a lack of Tatum not trying; he had a lot of pretty passes that his teammates just didn’t convert. This is the lowest assist game he’s had this season since March 6th when the Celtics blew out the 76ers.

With Zach Edey in foul trouble early for the Grizzlies, that gave Tatum a free run to the rim on multiple possessions. One to note was in the first quarter when Derrick White found Tatum going to the rim for an alley-oop layup, catching the Memphis defense sleeping.

Tatum has been utilizing his mid-range jumper a lot more recently. It feels like he found some success with it again despite the poor shooting night. At the end of the second quarter, he had Scotty Pippen Jr. on an island as time was running out and splashed a side step jumper right over him.

His best play came during a third quarter run the Celtics were having when Jrue Holiday passed Tatum a grenade in the corner with four seconds left on the shot clock. Jaylen Wells was playing some tight defense on him, but Tatum had enough and used his spin move and strength to get around him for a layup that just beat the buzzer.

5. Jrue Holiday’s underrated performance

Since Jrue Holiday came back from his finger injury, his three-point shooting has been a lot better and it looked great against Memphis. Holiday scored 18 points with 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and was a +21 for the game.

On the Celtics six-game road trip, Holiday shot 41% from three-point range and most recently over his last three games he’s up to 61%. This 18-point performance also increases the Celtics record to 53-3 when Holiday scores 14+ points in a game.

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Holiday’s first three of the night came off a bounce pass from Kristaps Porzingis and it was a big shot for him after he missed his first four shots that were way off. This was a good sign to see his confidence was shaken after a rocky start and from the Celtics last matchup with the Grizzlies where he went 8-26 from the field and 4-17 from three.

His biggest threes came in the third quarter when it was a back-and-forth game. Holiday got a cross court pass from Sam Hauser for a wide open three that gave the Celtics a six-point lead midway through the quarter. The next shot came off a great block from Tatum and after some passing around the arc, Holiday ended up with the ball and after some hesitation, splashed a three.

6. Porzingis playing with meat

Ever since Kristaps Porzingis said he “earned buckets with meat” back on January 29th, the Celtics have been on a hot streak. Boston is 25-4 since Porzingis’ comment and ever since he has come back from his illness, Kristaps has been playing great.

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One great Porzingis basket came when the Celtics looked like the Showtime Lakers with this possession that started with a Payton Pritchard steal. Holiday picked it up and passed it ahead to Tatum who passed it back to Holiday on the bounce. Holiday then found a trailing Porzingis for an alley-oop slam for one of the highlights of the night.

Porzingis continued to penetrate the paint as he received a pass from Derrick White as he was cutting to the basket. Porzingis bumped into Zach Edey and spun around him for the jam.

It really is great to see Porzingis healthy and hopefully, we can get more of this for a full playoff run because he is going to be huge for the Celtics.

7. Xavier Tillman’s start

Xavier Tillman has had a rough season to say the least. Tillman has not found a spot in the rotation after his Game 3 of the NBA Finals performance last season and has most recently been dealing with injuries that have had him out entirely.

However, for the first time since November 8th, Tillman got the start with Jaylen Brown and Luke Kornet out of the lineup. Tillman played parts of four seasons with the Grizzlies before getting traded to the Celtics at last year’s trade deadline and was a pretty loved figure in Memphis.

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Although Tillman only finished with 2 points on 0-5 shooting, it was nice to see him get some run again and he appreciated the opportunity from Joe Mazzulla.

He said, “Me getting the opportunity to come back here, and just say thank you to the fans, my former teammates, it was pretty awesome.”

Coming down to the last few games of the season, we could see Tillman getting more playing time as more guys rest for the playoffs. We’ll have to see if he can show any flashes in that time to get in the rotation again, but tonight was a great moment and awesome gesture for Tillman to thank the Memphis faithful one more time.

8. Dominated the rebounding battle

When looking at the stats from this game, one number that stands out the most is how the Celtics dominated the Grizzlies on the glass. Boston had 54 rebounds in this game compared to Memphis’ 45. The Celtics also had 12 offensive rebounds and that was huge for Boston being able to generate 10 second chance points.

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9. Chasing best road record update

With the Celtics win over the Grizzlies and a 6-0 west coast road trip, Boston won their 32nd road game of the season. With two road games remaining, the Celtics have a chance to tie the 2015-16 Warriors for the best road record in NBA history.

The last two road games are a back-to-back with the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic on April 8th and 9th.

Not only are the Celtics fighting for the best road record in NBA history, they are also in striking distance of the all-time record for scoring differential by a team. Currently, the record is held by the 1972 Lakers with a 11.32 differential, but this year’s Celtics are currently second with a 10.36 differential. Boston is also fighting off OKC for the second spot as the Thunder are a close third place at 10.25.

10. Getting ready for war

With seven games remaining in the Celtics season, the playoffs are on the horizon and Jayson Tatum sounds ready. In his post-game interview with Abby Chin on NBC Sports Boston, Tatum said “it’s almost time for war” when asked on how he feels this team is at currently.

Looking at the Celtics record over the past two months or so, I am inclined to believe him. The Celtics seem to be peaking at the right time and outside of their losses to Cleveland, Detroit, and OKC of this two month stretch, they have looked like the dominant team that won the championship last year.

Expect a lot of players to get some time off in this final stretch of games because like Tatum said, the Celtics are about to go to war in the playoffs. Boston is the king now and everyone is going to try and raid the kingdom to take them down.

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