Simone's Six: Luka Garza, Derrick White, and what went wrong in Celtics-Grizzlies

For over 40 minutes of game time on Friday night, the Memphis Grizzlies ran the Boston Celtics out of the gym. The score may not have told that story, but the game did. Memphis outran, outhustled, and outshot the Celtics.

But none of that will go in the record books.

Instead, a Derrick White, Luka Garza-led final push led the Celtics to a 117-112 victory in Memphis, saving what would have been an ugly loss on the schedule.

So, what happened?

1. Luka Garza’s dominance

Taylor Hendricksis 6-foot-9. He was the tallest active player for the Grizzlies on Friday night. And though Garza is only 6-foot-10, he looked closer to the monster he was at Iowa than the reliable role player he’s become in Boston.

Garza camped the paint all night, finding his usual success on the offensive glass. Without his extra efforts in that area, Boston’s offense may have collapsed completely.

He finished the night with 22 points and seven rebounds (five offensive boards), but the fourth quarter was his masterpiece.

In the final frame, Garza shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, tallying 11 points and snagging two offensive rebounds. And some of the plays he made were more heart than talent.

Like here. Garza had no business getting a hand on this ball. Olivier-Maxence Prosper had him boxed out, and Tyler Burtonhad a hand draped over his head.

Yet somehow, through the power of sheer will, Garza got a hand up, tipped the ball back toward the basket, and scored.

But it was more than just offensive rebounding for Garza. That’s become commonplace for him this season. He also found a way to impact the offensive end with his spatial awareness.

Watch the shot clock wind down on this play. White gets caught in a flurry of Grizzlies defenders, and Garza is at the top of the key.

He could have stayed spaced there. He could have tried to give White room to get to the hoop. But he saw the seconds dwindling, and as soon as Prosper turned his back, he made his move.

Garza ran toward the rim, White threw a gorgeous pass through Memphis’ defense, and Garza finished a tough reverse layup while his momentum was taking him out of bounds.

That type of floor spacing was crucial to the Celtics’ success, especially down the stretch. Combined with his elite offensive rebounding, that’s how Garza left his mark on this basketball game.

2. Derrick White’s fourth quarter

Garza will get most of the shine from this game. And rightfully so; he was incredible. But without White’s fourth-quarter performance, the Celtics would be flying back to Boston with an extra tick in the loss column.

The start of the fourth was ugly. Ty Jerome nailed two circus shots in the Celtics’ faces, and Joe Mazzullacalled a timeout.

He could have said anything to White during that timeout. Maybe he said nothing. But whatever happened flipped a switch inside of White. And from that point on, the Grizzlies couldn’t do anything to slow him down.

First, it was a driving floater. White kept his foot planted, waited for the defense to jump, then finished at the rim. Then, a deep three.

And at last, there was this play. White doesn’t find anything on his initial probe, so he kicks to Hugo Gonzalezto reset. When Gonzalez passes the ball back, Hendricks tries to lunge for a steal.

Big mistake.

White immediately drove the closeout, but watch what happens when he gets in the lane. It’s small, so watch closely.

He stutter steps just above the free-throw line. It’s a fraction of a second, but it forces the entire Grizzlies defense to stay with their matchups along the three-point line instead of collapsing in the lane.

Then, one quick pass-fake to Garza was enough to earn himself a clear scoring chance at the rim.

White went on a personal 7-0 run to completely erase the seven-point lead Memphis had built for itself (their biggest lead of the game).

But White’s scoring wasn’t his only offensive contribution on Friday night.

The Grizzlies did a great job of pressuring the ball all night, but in the fourth, White beat the press. Obviously, the slip pass to Garza in the above section was a beauty, but this pass fell under the radar.

Memphis goes to trap White above the three-point line, but he sees Garza slipping toward the rim. He slings a one-handed pass just as Hendricks turns his back to get back to Garza in the paint.

White had the ball on strings in the fourth quarter.

3. Grizzlies ball pressure

Memphis’ ball pressure in this game was one of the main reasons they were able to blitz Boston. They played within the flow of the defense, switching often and constantly forcing the Celtics’ ball-handlers to work in tight windows.

Like on this play. The term ‘blitz’ isn’t often used so literally in basketball, but that’s exactly what happened here.

DeJon Jarreau saw the hand-off coming before it happened and completely jumped the play. But at the same time, Hendricks was right up against Neemias Queta on the play, and Javon Smallwas just a step behind White.

Memphis played this perfectly.

But their ball pressure was also backed up by impressive rotations off the ball. Memphis consistently took away the pass the Celtics wanted to make, and it caught them off guard.

Here, the rotation was obvious. Instead of following his guy into the paint, Hendricks saw that his teammates had trapped Jayson Tatum. So, he stalked the play like a free safety, waited to see where Tatum wanted to pass the ball, and nabbed the steal.

But Memphis was also rotating off the ball on plays like this one.

Cam Spencer and Hendricks double-team Brown, and Jaylen Wellssees that Hauser is the open man on the perimeter. AKA, the obvious next pass.

So, he tries to time his lunge, but is just barely too late.

These were the types of plays the Grizzlies were making all night, and it made the Celtics’ offense have to think just a little bit harder than they may have thought they would have to.

4. Missed layups vs. turnovers

The Celtics only turned the ball over 12 times in this game. But seven of them were live-ball turnovers, and the Grizzlies scored 14 points off them.

That alone was enough to help spark Memphis’ offensive attack, but it doesn’t paint the full picture. Because while turnovers themselves are dangerous, missed layups are just as bad.

And the Celtics shot just 20-of-29 in the restricted area on Friday night. That means they missed nine shots at the rim.

When a player misses a layup, not only are they losing out on two points, but they are also taking themselves out of a play. Missed layups often result in the guy who shot the ball ending the play under the rim.

And if the other team gets the ball, that effectively creates a 4-on-5 situation. Or, at the very least, an advantage of some kind.

Like here. Jaylen Brown misses a layup, and since Garza was going for the offensive rebound, he’s basically out of the play, too.

Prosper gets the ball and starts running down the floor with a full head of steam. Meanwhile, Boston’s offensive players, now turned into defenders in a split second, are trying to get back on defense on their back heels.

The end result is an and-one for Prosper at the rim.

So, even though the Celtics only turned the ball over 12 times, their misses often turned into easy chances for the Grizzlies on the other end of the court.

5. Derrick White’s defense

Circling back around to White for another topic: His defense was as impressive as usual on Friday night.

As always, White was a menace down low. His incessant desire to find a way back into the play ended with a block on Wells here.

White didn’t rush it. He let Queta hold the line (and he did a great job of staying strong without fouling) before pouncing at the last second for a rejection.

But then there are plays like these.

White likes to roam the baseline, ready for chances to help at the rim. That’s what he was doing here, but Burton shifted up to the top of the key.

However, as soon as White realized the ball wasn’t going to Hendricks, who he was checking on the roll, he made a mad dash up to the wing.

White soared into the air to prevent the initial shot, and when Burton pump-faked, he still managed to get a hand in his face on the second shot attempt.

Plays like these are what make White such a special defender. It’s the little things like this hustle here.

6. Baylor Scheierman’s role

It’s going to be overlooked because of how impactful Garza and White were in the fourth quarter, but Baylor Scheiermanplayed a big role in Boston’s fourth-quarter comeback, too.

Scheierman played 11:28 in the fourth quarter, and though he only made one shot, his hustle and connecting plays were what made the difference.

As per usual, his work on the offensive glass was impressive. He rose up above the entire Grizzlies defense for the board.

He even put the ball on the floor a little bit.

Scheierman has gotten better and better at putting the ball on the floor while driving closeouts, and that’s exactly what he did here, finishing the play with a sweet dump-off pass to Garza.