CELTICS BENCH MOB SHOWS OUT IN A PRESEASON BACK TO BACK BATTLE WITH NEW YORK.

Ryan Osborne

10/9/23

After an electric preseason opening victory in front of a packed crowd full of Celtics faithful, the team had to turn around and travel to the other famous Garden arena to face off against the Knicks tonight. The surprisingly back and forth game ended in a Knicks 114-107 victory, which had all of the preseason thrills you could ever hope for, while also being extremely insightful.

A rare preseason back to back, which I did not think was even possible, was what the Celtics faced Monday night. While it was the opening preseason game for New York and their starters played for most of the first half (Brunson, Grimes, Barrett, Randle, Robinson), the Celtics made the right call by resting their top six players (Tatum, Brown, White, Holiday, Porzingis, and Horford). Joe Mazzula rolled out a starting lineup of Pritchard, who was the hero and star of Sunday night's game, Banton, Brissett, Hauser, and Kornet.

There is something about these preseason games where your top players take a seat and you are given the chance to watch the rotational end of bench guys that is pure chaos filled fun. It gives us, the viewers, the chance to see who can step up this season on a championship ready roster and become a reliable rotation player. Who can provide important minutes or spark plugs deep off the bench? We know our top six, we know that Payton will get an every night role, and we know our back up center position is probably going to fall on Luke Kornet’s shoulders this year. After that however, it is all up in the air, so this game in which the Bench Mob or Bus One Boys actually were going back and forth with the Knicks starting unit, it was eye candy for the viewer.

While Quickley (21 points in 23 minutes of playing time) was outstanding for New York, I really want to take a look and talk about every player that got a chance to take the floor for the C’s tonight and give my initial thoughts on what role we could expect from them this year.

We will start with the star of the night in green once again. I do not know if it's the new money in his pocket, the stress gone from putting pen to paper, or just excitement to finally get a real everynight role as the backup point for Boston after a few years of being buried deeper down the rotation, but Payton Pritchard has been nothing short of amazing. The confidence is radiating off of him, he is controlling the offense and if anything it goes to show just how talented NBA players really are. Pritchard raked up his own 21 points in 29 minutes on 7-15 shooting, while also dishing out 5 assists and 3 steals. His role solidified to me, he is going to be the 7th man and play a role every single night for an offensive punch. My two favorite plays from Payton tonight was the fake pull out and spin baseline for a layup that Tatum pulled off just the night before and of course the end of the 3rd quarter logo launch. Back to back A+ preseason performances from Fast PP.

My biggest surprise and player I was most excited about tonight was Dalono Banton, someone I will fully admit I was not sold on and was not sure if there was any role for him, but boy was he special tonight (20 points on 8 of 19 shooting) The 6’7 point guard who says his favorite player growing up was none other than Celtics champion Rajon Rondo, looked like a prime Shaun Livingston more than anything. His midrange jumper is smooth as butter and he just found his spot on the floor so effortlessly. I also really enjoyed the 3 or 4 times he found his way to the rim and was able to use his longer frame for a guard to scoop the ball away from the defender and to the glass. I am not sure of the role for Dalano this season, but I feel a lot more comfortable with him being our deep bench point/combo guard tonight then I did even 24 hours ago. Really impressed, A+ grade for Banton tonight as well.

My last big winner from the night was new Celtic sharpshooter Svi Mykhailiuk. I knew Svi was a sniper from deep, but I had no clue how much bounce he had! He got up on an alley oop fast break dunk and a put back dunk, which apparently is our bench mob's new thing to do in these games. Svi tallied 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting, and while Hauser (who I will get to soon) could not find his stroke tonight, it seemed like even Svi’s misses should have gone in. It just gives us another shooter we can trust down the bench to throw at opponents on any given night and Mazzulla ball will live on and thrive. A- performance for Svi tonight.

The next two guys I will talk about together, as I feel not only are their games slightly similar, but they played similarly tonight. New Celtics Lamar Stevens and Oshae Brissett (who has great Youtube behind the scenes videos at BrisseyTV) played solid all around games tonight, but lacked one thing each. Shooting. A combined 1-9 from three, and many looks were wide open corner 3’s (Brissett) or wing 3’s (Stevens). While I am not expecting these guys to be sharpshooters since we have so many shooters already on this roster, we do need them to be able to knock down the wide open ones that we saw Grant Williams get in the corner years prior. It is only the second preseason game and it is not the end of the world, it is something I will definitely have my eye on as the season gets going. Besides that, I loved how both played, so much energy and effort constantly. Either can be plug and play options to come in for the Jays. Lamar Stevens (11 points) seemed to be at the right spot on the court so often tonight, especially in the 2nd quarter there was a four or five play sequence Lamar was absolutely everywhere. At the same time I still give the nod to Brissett (10 points) for a backup wing role, as his defensive energy and glass crashing is fun to watch and intoxicating. He has a great instinct to also cut at the correct time for easy baskets. B performance grade from both.

Now let's talk about the bigs, which continues to be my biggest concern and question mark going into the season. I have never been the biggest believer in Luke Kornet being our backup Center, especially not if Porzingis or Horford miss time. Tonight's game vs New York and rebounding monster Mitchell Robinson backed up my concerns. Robinson was everywhere on the glass in the first quarter especially on the offensive side and it looked like Kornet was Peyton's size trying to grab a board. This issue resonated even louder to me when newcomer Neemias Queta, the 7 foot 24 year old, came in and made an immediate impact on the glass for us, even finishing some put backs. Kornet is a solid lob threat and a great teammate, but my concerns will remain with him going forward. Now saying all that, after a lackluster 1st, he had a decent overall game rest of the way, with some impressive blocks and of course the Kornet Contest. Queta has his own issues and that is going to be staying on the floor even in his potential limited minutes with us. He just cannot stop hacking and fouling. I thought the war on Theis was bad, but Queta is a whole new ballpark. Overall I am not expecting much from Queta and was shockingly impressed with his energy and aggressiveness on the glass. Lastly, the most recently acquired Celtic, Wenyen Gabriel, came in with about 5 minutes left in the 4th and any expectations I had for the former Laker went straight out the window. I don’t see any role for him here nor do I see any skill of his that can benefit us moving forward. Soft hands, bad touch, and looked like a deer in headlights out there. Would not be shocked if he is not the first person who is cut from this roster. Overall I would give the Big Men Unit a C- for tonight's match.

I will quickly touch up on Hauser, Walsh, and J.D Davidson. Sam Hauser frustratingly continued his preseason cold streak from distance, now 2-15. I am not going to push the panic button on Sam as shooters will continue to shoot and we know Hauser is a marksman, but I also would not be shocked if Svi stole some minutes and provided the hot shooting at some point this year either. Rough game from Sam, D+ grade. Young guard J.D Davidson stood out to me in the few minutes he provided tonight. His court vision continues to shine and he might be the only Celtic who can consistently throw a perfect lob pass. Also was impressed with Davidson’s floater game, it is a thing of beauty, just might not be on the same level as Knicks guards Brunson or Quickley just yet. B- grade for J.D. Lastly our rookie Jordan Walsh got his first preseason opportunity and I liked what I saw from him, besides a late game transition pull up 3 that had me scratching my head asking why. Walsh had a highlight play which gave me a ton of reinsurance on why I am confident he will have a role here. Julius Randle had his lunch money stolen and ripped away by Jordan and he was able to go coast to coast and finish in traffic. All I needed to see. B- grade for the rook as well.

Overall for the bench mob to go basket for basket with most of the Knicks everynight roster was a great way to spend my Monday night, instead of watching the snoozefest MNF game between the Packers and Raiders. I have a lot more confidence in the depth of this team and general excitement to watch more from this group going forward. The Celtics will close preseason action when they head to Philadelphia Wednesday night to rematch vs the 76ers in a game the top six Celtics should see the court again. Until then I will watch highlights of Wemby vs Chet from tonight’s action and as always, continue to Bleed Green.