The Boston Celtics played their third and penultimate preseason game when they defeated a bunch of guys in Cleveland Cavaliers uniforms 138-107.  Let’s see if there is anything to glean from this blowout victory. 

It is hard to evaluate the Celtics new guys as they have yet to play against a single NBA starter.  Cleveland did not even bother to bring their starters on the trip to Boston.  Hence the “Bunch of guys in Cavs uniforms” line.  This makes it hard to evaluate because you watch the game and think the Celtics are playing bad, turning the ball over, missing shots, giving up offensive rebounds, and then you look down and they are literally up by 20 points.  They are just out talenting a bunch of end of bench guys and G-Leaguers.  Word is Toronto is going to play their guys in the last game on Wednesday.  Hopefully they do so we can see if what we are seeing will hold up in the regular season. 

Th other problem with the preseason is that Coach Mazzulla is using it to drive home the point that everyone has to rebound and they need to stop giving up offensive rebounds.  He is doing this by immediately benching anyone who gives up an offensive rebound.  I understand his thinking and hopefully it is getting the message across.  The bad thing is that is kills any thought of seeing a possible regular season rotation.  Guys are just popping in and out of the game.  The Celtics gave up 21 offensive boards (a horrible number that has to get better) so there was a lot of random subbing. 

With all that said, there wasn’t much to learn from this game.  Everyone played pretty much how they have been playing all preseason.  The Celtics started White, Brown, Houser, Pritchard, and Boucher.  This could be their starting lineup opening night.  It’s a small line up so maybe they only use it against smaller teams.  The Cavs had a pretty small team out there so it’s hard to judge the bigs. Especially enough to say who should be starting.  Boucher will probably start but it might be at the 4, not the 5.  We shall see. 

A difference from recent teams for this year’s version is that there should be more bench scoring.  Assuming that starting lineup, Simons will score well into double digits off the bench (should be in consideration for 6^th man of the year) and Minott will score double digits off the bench.  If Garza gets enough minutes, he could score 10 off the bench as well.  Once Tatum comes back, they will also have Houser as a scorer off the bench.  This team is going to score lots of points.  Especially if they play faster throughout the season.  Even without Tatum, offense should not be a problem. 

The problem is going to be defense and rebounding.  We have covered the rebound issue a ton and it will be the ongoing story throughout the season.  The defense is hard to judge due to the competition.  The Celtics do not really have a rim protector and will have to play aggressively to keep teams from getting easy baskets.  Guys are gong to have to guard their yard because there is not going to be much help behind them.  So far it hasn’t been a real issue but who knows what it will look like against real competition.  This is what they lost when Holiday, Kornet, Porzingis, and Horford left.  This is why defensive rebounding is so important.  When they get the other team to miss a shot, they have to get the ball.  Making multiple stops on one possession is going to be hard for them. 

The Celtics next game, the last of the preseason, is Wednesday night.  Hopefully the rumor that the Raptors are going to play their starters is true and we can finally see how this version of the Celtics stacks up against another NBA team.