What could have been a ghastly road loss turned out to be a signature showcase for yet another Celtics role player: big man Luka Garza.
Garza tallied 22 points – a season-high – with a fourth-quarter performance of 11. He shot 75% from the field and played a pivotal role in a tight battle Boston waged against Memphis, a shorthanded team who currently sits in the Western Conference basement.
Boston’s uncharacteristic turnovers provided 23 points for Memphis and Jayson Tatum struggled in his first truly off shooting night since returning from Achilles repair. That’s to be expected – the superstar had bad nights when at full power, and it’s all part of the recovery. Jaylen Brown posted his third-straight game with 30 points or more.
But it was the two-man game between Garza and Derrick White that kept the Celtics neck-and-neck as the game wound down, with Garza often acting as the screener at the top of the key and shifting down to the post to provide easy buckets. Boston pulled off a 21-5 run in the quarter and won their fourth-straight game, 117-112.
Garza’s production is up since Nikola Vucevic fell out of the rotation with a fractured finger two weeks ago. The backup big man has potential, especially as a shooter. He played his college ball at Iowa, where he shot over 54% his final two years.
While Brown and Tatum have justifiably gotten the headlines over the last two weeks, it’s become rare for a Celtics player to squander in-game opportunities this season, and that’s been a major part of their unexpected success.
Jordan Walsh was instrumental in a fourth-quarter performance that led to a December 3rd win over the Knicks and rookie Hugo Gonzalez helped Boston to spirited win over the Bucks on the second night of a back-to-back, on the road, earlier this month.
The “rise to the occasion” mentality permeates this team from top to bottom, and it could lead to a very long rotation in the upcoming playoffs.
“I love being a part of this team. We play hard every single night,” Garza told media in the locker room postgame, via NBC Sports Boston. “When you do that, you put yourself in a good position, especially in a situation like tonight, where we obviously had the talent advantage. When you play hard long enough, when you finally get that rhythm, everything else takes over.”
“He’s amazing,” White told NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin postgame. “He plays so hard every single second he’s out there. He does so many little things for us, and [he’s] the ultimate competitor. So, big plays all game really. [He] kind of kept us in it and had huge plays down the stretch.”
The Celtics improved to 47-23 and sit four games behind the Detroit Pistons, who hold the top seed in the Eastern Conference. They play the Minnesota Timberwolves back at TD Garden Sunday night.