MEMPHIS — The Celtics capped off a 6-0 road trip in impressive fashion on Monday night, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 117-103 without All-Star forward Jaylen Brown (knee). Boston trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half but rallied yet again with some balanced offensive contributions across the board.
Al Horford erupted from 3-point range in the win, scoring a season-high 26 points off the bench including matching his career-high with six 3-point makes. Jayson Tatum (25 points, 14 rebounds) and Derrick White also both chipped in with double-doubles and Jrue Holiday had his third straight outing scoring in double figures in the victory.
Ja Morant had a team-high 26 points for the Grizzlies in the setback, leading a late Memphis charge in the fourth quarter that trimmed Boston’s 15-point lead down to single midway through the fourth quarter before Boston shut the door for their ninth straight win.
The visitors will now head back to Boston after their two-week trail and close out the regular season with five of their final seven regular season games coming at TD Garden. The Celtics currently trail the Cavs by four games for the No. 1 seed.
Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ win on Monday night:
Xavier Tillman gets surprise start against former squad: The veteran big man made his first appearance since March 6 in his Memphis homecoming, his first game against the team that drafted him since he was dealt to Boston. The 26-year-old got a nice ovation from the Memphis crowd upon being introduced with the starters and had some good hustle plays early for Boston on the glass playing alongside Kristaps Porzingis. However, it was evident why he has been out of Boston’s rotation for much of the year as he missed all five of his wide-open 3-point attempts. Tillman finished with two points in eight minutes but looked to be moving better since sitting out some time last week due to his sore knee.
Jrue Holiday’s offensive resurgence continues: The Celtics guard continues to play his best offensive basketball of the season this month. He knocked down a team-high four 3s against a Grizzlies team that was happy to let him fire away at TD Garden earlier this season. Holiday’s aggressive mentality is paying dividends for Boston’s offense as well with more focus needing to be given to the former All-Star guard. Holiday has now scored in double figures for three straight games and has hit double figures in seven March games, his most in a month all season long.
Al Horford looks rejuvenated after a game off: The Celtics gave Horford a few extra days of rest by having him take the Spurs game off and it paid major dividends against the Grizzlies. The big man erupted for a season-high 26 points and tied his career-high from 3-point range with six 3s against Memphis bigs laying off him on the perimeter. It was the third straight game that Horford scored in double figures and a very timely scoring breakout with Jaylen Brown getting the night off due to knee soreness.
A road trip that will go down in franchise history: The Celtics are playing some of their best basketball of the season at the perfect time with the playoffs just weeks away and their road trip has put this team in the record books. Boston’s 6-0 road trip sets a franchise record for best trip in franchise history, topping a 5-0 road trip put together by the 1972-73 Celtics back in February 1973. All six of the wins on the trip came in double figures, helping Boston to extend their winning streak to a season-high nine games. Boston has now won 14 of their last 15 games overall and are still within striking distance of matching the best road record in NBA history at 34-7 with two road games remaining in New York and Orlando next week.
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