On a night with all 30 teams playing, tonight’s Celtics-Grizzlies game — with all due respect to OKC-Detroit — might have been the marquee contest. The Celtics led for most of the fourth quarter and staved off a late Memphis comeback to win 109-106.
Even without the hulking presence of Steven Adams, Joe Mazzulla opted to start the double-big lineup of Grant Williams and Al Horford. Memphis opened with a balanced scoring attack, with each of the five starters scoring on their first five buckets. Conversely, Marcus Smart scored 10 of Boston’s first 12 points. He then had back-to-back highlight-reel assists, the first a one-handed flip to Jaylen Brown, and the second a wraparound bounce pass to Jayson Tatum.