Gameday Preview: Boston Travels Back Home to Take on the Injured Grizzlies
Nelson Chenault | USA TODAY Sports
The Celtics are back at TD Garden tonight to face-off against a depleted Memphis Grizzlies squad.
Boston is coming off of a two-game stretch where they played the Pacers twice in a row, splitting the two games 1-1. While they did manage to win the second game to split the series, there were some serious defensive concerns throughout the two games. At times, Boston seemed unable to get any sort of stop on the defensive end, which is weird since the Celtics have been one of the better defensive teams in the league for the past few years. Having gone up against a playoff-tier team for their first four games, however, a matchup against an injured Grizzlies team should ease the load a little bit.
Jaylen Brown has by far been the most consistent Celtic through their first four games, but Jayson Tatum picked things up a little in their last contest against Indiana. Each of them is averaging over 24 points a night, while also shooting at least 44% from the field. With Kemba Walker out, it’s up to these two to carry the load night-in and night-out. Another pleasant surprise thus far has been rookie Payton Pritchard. He’s had a couple of shining moments, but none as bright as last game versus the Pacers. He played over 27 minutes and was a huge reason the Celtics were able to secure the win. Pritchard took over a majority of the ball-handling duties and brought some great energy to the floor.
As for the Grizzlies, they have been hit hard by the injury bug this season. They currently have seven players listed on their injury report as out for the upcoming game - Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., De’Anthony Melton, Justise Winslow, Killian Tillie, Xavier Tillman, and Jontay Porter. While Jackson Jr. came into the season injured, Morant just recently hurt his ankle in a game against Brooklyn. Prior to that, he was absolutely killing it averaging 26.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists a night.
With all those guys out Memphis’ best players this year have been Kyle Anderson and Dillon Brooks. Anderson is averaging 18.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists and Brooks is averaging 19.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.3 assists. Other notable players have been Jonas Valanciunas and Brandon Clarke, but with a majority of their roster out the Grizzlies have struggled to find any sort of consistency, starting off the year 1-2.
Boston should have their easiest test yet against this Memphis team, but as Sam always likes to say, “ the Celtics love to play at the level of their competition.” You never know whether or not the Celtics will play like the Celtics or play at the level of the team they are facing. Hopefully they can bring it tonight and secure what should be a relatively easy win.
Make sure to tune in to our live pregame show, the Banner Town Buildup, at 7:00 PM EST on the @GuyBostonSports Twitter account! We’re there 30 minutes before tip-off before every game so come hangout! Boston tips off against Memphis at 7:30 PM EST on NBC Sports Boston.
