On a night where the Celtics shot 26% from three, they found a way to beat the Grizzlies 117-112 behind 30 points from Jaylen Brown and season high 22 points from Luka Garza.
The Celtics started their usuals with only Nikola Vucevic missing the game. Joe Mazzulla put Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Jayson Tatum and Neemias Queta out there to start the game. Memphis had a slew of injuries, Ja Morant, Cedric Cowherd, Zach Edey, Santi Aldama, Brandon Clarke, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Scotty
Pippen Jr., GG Jackson, Jahmai Mashack and Taj Gibson (yes, he is on the Grizzlies) were out for this one. They started Ty Jerome, Javon Small, Jaylen Wells, Taylor Hendricks and Olivier-Maxence Prosper.
The Grizzlies were leading the Celtics at the first timeout, 11-9. It was a slow start for the Celtics offense, they made only one of their first 6 shot attempts but were able to stay in the game at the foul line, a place Jaylen Brown has been living the last few games.
Payton Pritchard came in and flipped the energy for the Celtics, scoring 10 points as the Celtics took the lead late in the quarter.
The Celtics led the quarter after a massive dunk from Hugo Gonzalez, 29-27. Pritchard’s 10 points lead the team while Jaylen Brown had 6 points and Luka Garza had 4.
HUGOOO 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/vNWkth2jSJ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 21, 2026
Memphis was playing with a lot of hustle and the Celtics could not make a shot so Memphis led 41-38 in the middle of the 2nd quarter.
Ty Jermone, Tyler Burton and Javon Small were all getting the ball in the hoop for the Grizzlies with 8, 8 and 7 points respectively.
Jayson Tatum could not get it going for the Celtics, he missed his first 8 shots of the game going 0-5 from beyond the arc as well. He made his first shot with 1:20 to go in the 2nd quarter.
It was a frustrating half for the Celtics as they shot 38% from the floor, however, they led 55-54. Jaylen Brown led the team with 16 points while Payton Pritchard had 12 and Neemias Queta had 10 points to go along with 7 rebounds.
The Celtics were just sleep walking through much of the game. Memphis was just a step quicker for much of the early part of the game.
We did get a Nikola Vucevic update during the game.
NBC Sports Boston reporting Vucevic will have an X-Ray in a week and return to contact, play in the final few regular season games if all goes well.
— Bobby Manning (@RealBobManning) March 21, 2026
The Grizzlies just would not go away, every time it felt like the Celtics were getting ready to pull away, Memphis would get a big basket. They took their largest lead to that point in the middle of the third quarter, 74-68, off of a Cam Spencer three pointer.
The two teams went back and fourth the rest of the quarter as the Grizzlies led the Celtics 88-84 at the end of three. Jaylen Brown’s 26 points and Payton Pritchard’s 17 points led the team in scoring.
The Grizzlies had built a 7 points lead early in the fourth but 7 straight Derrick White points, tied the game back up at 98.
The Celtics finally went on their run in the fourth quarter, going on a 19-5 run to take a 7 point lead with 3 minutes left.
Luka Garza had his best scoring game as a Celtic with 22 points on 9/12 shooting. It was not his career high, however.
25 is his career-high! In Minnesota!
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) March 21, 2026
Derrick White dominated the fourth quarter, 11 of his 14 points came in the period along with 3 assists and 1 steal in the quarter.
The Celtics were able to hang on for the win, 117-112. Jaylen Brown led the team with 30 points while Payton Pritchard had 19 points to go along with the previously mentioned 22 from Garza.
Boston shot 45% from the field and 26% from three while Memphis shot 47% from the field and 32% from three. The C’s next game is Sunday night at 8 EST from TD Garden against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
