The Celtics wrapped up their preseason with a 110-108 win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. It was as close to a dress rehearsal as the Celtics have had this preseason, with the Celtics finally seeing another team’s starting lineups and both teams keeping their starters in deep into the fourth quarter.
Here are seven takeaways as the Celtics conclude the preseason slate 2-2.
Jaylen Brown left the game with left hamstring tightness
The biggest storyline coming out of the game is Jaylen Brown’s health. The Celtics star exited in the first quarter with what the team called left hamstring tightness and did not return.
“I think he’ll be ok. I talked to him after, and he said he’ll be fine,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said postgame. “But I didn’t get a full update.”
The injury appeared to occur as Brown pushed the ball in transition. After passing to Anfernee Simons around midcourt, he immediately grabbed at his left hamstring. He moved cautiously, continuing to reach for the area before being subbed out about 20 seconds later.
After checking out, Brown had a brief conversation with the trainers before heading to the locker room. He finished with seven points (2/4 FG, 1/3 3PT), two rebounds, and a steal in just seven minutes.
The one thing the Celtics didn’t want to see in their final preseason game was an injury. It’s even worse when it happens to your best available player with opening night less than a week away. Hamstrings are notoriously tricky, so hopefully Brown and the Celtics avoided anything serious.
The Derrick White All-Star campaign is on
White was the best player on the court Wednesday night. He finished with a game-high 33 points (a mark he hit only four times last season, including playoffs), nine rebounds, six assists, and four (!) blocked shots.
Across three preseason games, the 31-year-old averaged 16 points, 7.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks.
With the injury to Jayson Tatum (26.8 points, 6.0 assists, and 8.7 rebounds) and the departures of Kristaps Porzingis (19.5 points, 2.1 assists, 6.8 rebounds), Jrue Holiday (11.1 points, 3.9 assists, 4.3 rebounds), Al Horford (9.0 points, 2.1 assists, 4.8 rebounds), and Luke Kornet (6.0 points, 1.6 assists, 5.3 rebounds), there’s a lot of ground to make up. White will be one of the key contributors to that.
He has been flirting with legitimate All-Star consideration for the last two seasons. This looks like the year he’s ready to break through and earn the nod.
Neemias Queta had his best game of the preseason
Coming off a strong showing at EuroBasket this summer, where he averaged 15.5 points, eight rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game, it had been a tough go for most of the preseason.
However, Queta, who is expected to be the starting center on opening night next Wednesday, finished the preseason on a high note, putting together his strongest game with eight points (4-of-7 FG), a game-high 12 rebounds, two assists, a steal, and four blocks.
“Tonight was good. It’s hard. We're gonna be hard on Neemi. I'm really looking forward to coaching him throughout the year,” Mazzulla said. “But as I told him, this is what you've worked your whole life for: a chance to start for the Celtics. I think you see this with players when they step into different phases of their career, where it's easy to be the rookie. It's kind of easy to be the fourth-string big. It's kind of easy to be the backup, and now it's like, hey, like that developed a mindset to deliver every night, and I think he has that. I think it took some time, but like yesterday in practice, two days ago in practice, and in tonight's game, he showed what he's capable of, and we just have to hold him to that standard. He takes pride in that. He works at it. But what we saw tonight – I think he can be better than that, but that's the guy we need more times than not.”
Queta was active on both ends of the floor, and his screening freed up teammates all night. Mazzulla is absolutely right. This is the type of Queta the Celtics need if they are going to make up for the talent drain in the frontcourt. He has shown flashes before, and Wednesday night was another reminder of what he can be when he is locked in.
Hugo Gonzalez looks ready to contribute
Aside from the two made three-pointers on two attempts, it looked like a rather pedestrian night for Hugo Gonzalez in the box score: eight points, one rebound, a block, and five fouls. But the box score doesn’t always tell the whole story, and this game was a perfect example of that.
The rookie made the Raptors uncomfortable all night with his defensive intensity and relentless ball pressure. His instincts look far more advanced than you would expect from a 19-year-old, which has caught the eye of Mazzulla.
"I think that's the biggest thing from his game that we've taken, is his defensive instincts, especially when he's off the ball,” Mazzulla said. "He does a great job of reading the game: his ability to rotate, deflections, all of that, so, [we've] been very pleased with his defensive instincts, and he just has to continue to get better at those."
Part of the draw with Gonzalez is his background. At Real Madrid, he was in an environment that prepared him for this stage. Last season alone, Gonzalez played alongside 10 players who spent time in the NBA: Bruno Fernando, Dennis Smith Jr., Dzanan Musa, Facu Campazzo, Gabriel Deck, Mario Hezonja, Serge Ibaka, Usman Garuba, Edy Tavares, and Xavier Rathan-Mayes.
"He plays so hard, so that's always like a good first start. He just knows how to play, knows how to be in the right position, and competes at a high level,” Derrick White said. “I've seen him just constantly working hard, constantly asking questions, constantly learning, and you could tell that he's been a pro for a while, and he's played basketball at a high level for some time now, and I think he's done a lot of good things for us this preseason."
Of course, he is still a work in progress. But Gonzalez looks ready to contribute. And with Mazzulla expecting to deploy deeper rotations, he should get his opportunity.
Payton Pritchard impacting the game in different ways
Pritchard finished a game-high +19 (in a game the Celtics won by just two) despite shooting 1-of-11 (9%) from the field and 0-of-8 from three.
Typically, the conversation around Pritchard starts and ends with his scoring, but he has clearly grown beyond that. He can contribute in multiple ways, and Wednesday night was a reflection of that.
He finished with a game-high 10 assists, accounting for 41 percent of the Celtics’ team total, grabbed three rebounds, and added a steal. The effort was there from start to finish. Whether it was boxing out, staying active on defense, or making scrappy energy plays, Pritchard found ways to make an impact despite a rough shooting night.
“Every time we brought him up the last year or so, it's been finding different ways to be impactful. And I think if you were to watch him during the game, you wouldn’t have missed 10 shots because of his effort,” Mazzulla said. “You can tell that he knows that he can impact the game in a bunch of different ways. To go 1-for-11 but have 10 assists, and those three rebounds there – he'll just do whatever it takes to help us win and give the game what it needs.”
Turnovers
The Celtics turned the ball over 21 times, marking their third game this preseason with 20 or more turnovers. For context, including the playoffs, they only had 20 or more turnovers once in 93 games last season.
Boston averaged 21.3 turnovers per game this preseason, roughly four more than the Utah Jazz’s league-worst 17.2 from a season ago and nearly double their 11.9 mark from last year.
Yes, it’s preseason, and a fair share of those turnovers can be chalked up to the soon-to-be Maine Celtics coughing the ball up late in games. But taking care of the ball has long been a hallmark of Mazzulla-coached teams, and this group can’t afford to gift possessions away.
The X-factor
Xavier Tillman told the media he is feeling much better after a knee injury derailed his 2024-25 season. He certainly looked healthy in the final minutes of Wednesday night’s game, helping the Celtics sneak out with a win.
Tillman either scored (seven points, three makes) or assisted (one assist, three points) on all four of the Celtics’ made field goals in the final 3:46, including a go-ahead floater with 1.4 seconds left that sealed the victory.
“I think he's just the ultimate professional,” Mazzulla said. “It’s a credit to him and his mindset to come in like he has. He's given us everything we could ask for – practice, games. That's kind of what it's all about. So I don't care that it's a preseason game. The fact is, we won, and he was a big part of that, and he delivered, and we're going to need him as we start the season.”
The 26-year-old appears healthy and has been productive. It hasn’t been flashy, but he has done his job, giving the Celtics another reliable big man option — something the team desperately needs.
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