Boston\u2019s 117-112 win<\/a> over Memphis.<\/p>\nIt began as a byproduct of the identity the Celtics developed during Jayson Tatum\u2019s absence, designed to keep the team competitive without him. Now that Tatum has returned and Boston remains in the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, Garza\u2019s trademark strength is more valuable than ever. On Saturday night, it proved especially important in helping the Celtics overcome a 3-point slump, as they shot just 26.2 percent on 42 attempts in Memphis.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe\u2019s amazing,\u201d Derrick White told Abby Chin, per NBC Sports Boston. \u201cHe plays so hard every single second he\u2019s out there. He does so many little things for us and (he\u2019s the) ultimate competitor, so big plays all game, really. Kind of kept us in it and huge plays down the stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the start of the fourth quarter, Garza remained on the floor while Tatum and Jaylen Brown sat on the bench.<\/p>\n
Garza played 11:24 in the fourth quarter, third-most behind White and Scheierman. The intensity he brought was too much to sit, as the Celtics were chasing the Grizzlies in an effort to preserve their winning streak and extend it to four games. Garza knocked down an open 3-pointer to cut Memphis\u2019 lead to 88-87, finishing the final frame with 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the floor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s great on both ends of the floor,\u201d Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston. \u201cHe\u2019s great defensively. He\u2019s great offensively. He does a great job screening. They play a hectic style. They put a ton of pressure on you from a physicality standpoint, and you have to be able to read, and make plays, and play through physicality \u2014 and no one\u2019s better at that than Luka.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The toughness and blue-collar mentality Garza brings to every opportunity, big or small, is always felt. He\u2019s never chasing double-doubles or specific scoring figures. Instead, he aims to make an impact. Garza punishes opposing defenses by exploiting their lack of preparation or inability to match him physically, leading Boston in the critical underlying battles: offensive rebounds, second-chance points, and other key margins.<\/p>\n
The Celtics outmatched the Grizzlies in both offensive rebounds (18-7) and second-chance points (28-13), thanks in large part to Garza.<\/p>\n
Since Vu\u010devi\u0107 went down, Garza\u2019s numbers have seen a slight boost, averaging 10.3 points on 60.5 percent shooting over the past seven games. He\u2019s also maintained a 44.4 percent mark from three, consistent with his season average of 43.3 percent, doing everything he can to stay effective and ready whenever Mazzulla gives him the green light.<\/p>\n
In Memphis, Mazzulla had no shortage of praise for Garza\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHis ability to screen. His ability to take advantage of mismatches on the glass,\u201d Mazzulla told reporters. \u201cDefensively, he kept his guy off the glass, so we were able to get other guys to come in and get rebounds. I thought he was great tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As soon as he saw an opportunity to attack the offensive glass, Luka Garza battled three Memphis Grizzlies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,1266,45,75,1243,294,78,77,17915,293,177,4070,6,6249,405,689,181,3209],"class_list":["post-670648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-memphis-grizzlies","tag-basketball","tag-baylor-scheierman","tag-boston","tag-boston-celtics","tag-derrick-white","tag-grizzlies","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-luka-garza","tag-memphis","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-memphisgrizzlies","tag-nba","tag-nbc-sports-boston","tag-payton-pritchard","tag-tennessee","tag-the-grizzlies","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116267232674554610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}