Luka Garza’s first ten games as a Boston Celtic have had some ups and some downs. That is to be expected from a player on his third team in five years and has never had a regular rotation role.
In fact,
before Sunday night, Garza only had one game where he was a positive in the plus/minus category. That game was in the Celtics Halloween win over the 76ers, when he was a +5.
In Sunday’s 111-107 win over the Orlando Magic, Garza delivered his best game as a Celtic. He scored 16 points while shooting 7/8 from the field (and 7/7 inside the arc) and grabbing 8 rebounds. He was a +9 for the Celtics.
In contrast, on Friday night, against the same Magic team, Garza had 2 points, 0 rebounds and was a -16. The Celtics lost the game, 123-110.
While the difference between winning and losing was not in large part due to Garza’s play, it played a factor in the second game in Orlando.
The 4th quarter was Garza’s quarter. He had 8 points, going perfect from the field, and he added 5 rebounds, including 2 key offensive rebounds.
— #LetsGoCeltics (@gobosceltics) November 10, 2025
Garza does a really good job at getting down the court and he is ready for the ball. Once he sees Pritchard put up a three pointer, he already has created the inside position for himself. He does a good job at attacking the rebound, grabbing it and putting it back in the hoop through contact for the and-1 opportunity.
He did miss the free throw.
— #LetsGoCeltics (@gobosceltics) November 10, 2025
He does a nice job relocating to create space for Brown. Once JB misses the shot, Garza does a good job, again, locating the ball and tapping it back in.
His screening is also something that Brian Scalabrine has talked a lot about. There are times where a lot of players will commit an offensive foul on a screen, but Garza doesn’t really have that problem. He knows when to get out of a screen as to not commit an offensive foul. It was something that Luke Kornet become good at in his last few seasons as a Celtic.
He is, however, still fouling too much, something I talked about in my player preview for Garza. According to Cleaning the Glass, he is fouling on 8.6% of plays, the highest rate in the NBA; in fact, he is 1.6% higher than Larry Nance who is 2nd worst at 7%. He also isn’t rebounding well on defense, grabbing just 10.8% of the other teams misses, ranking in the 11th percentile. His block percentage is high at 2.7% of shots so that is encouraging.
Sunday night was a good night for Luka Garza. Garza has been Neemias Queta’s backup center to this point in the season and Sunday was his best game in Celtics green yet. There are still things he needs to improve on, especially on the defensive end, but if he can piece together enough games like Sunday night, Garza has a chance to stick in Boston.
