First Look At Retooled Celtics Lineup Doesn’t Disappoint In Preseason Win

The Boston Celtics took their first step in their hunt for Banner No. 18 when they hosted the Philadelphia 76ers Sunday night at TD Garden in their preseason opener.

The Celtics didn’t shy away from their stars playing in the game and all logged at least 20 minutes in the 114-106 Boston win.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla rolled out Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White and Al Horford as his starting five with Jrue Holiday coming off the bench. Mazzulla said Holiday only arriving this week gave him a pause on starting the point guard.

“The preseason is being able to just experiment with different lineups and our guys are open-minded,” Mazzulla said, per team-provided video. “They’re ready to play together they’re ready to sacrifice they’re ready to do whatever it takes to win so there’s going to be a bunch of different lineups, especially during the preseason. We’ll be able to keep that open mind and that flexibility throughout the year.”

In his Celtics debut, Porzingis knocked down 17 points and collided five rebounds in 25 minutes while Holiday scored six points off the bench and recorded five rebounds and two steals over the course of 22 minutes.

Even with the win, Mazzulla was focused on specific aspects of the game more than the outcome. He noted he saw some plays where Boston would pass up the shot and take the extra pass, which he expects the team to execute better once they build their chemistry.

“I thought at the end of the day, we played with physicality. Defensively we played with the right mindset. We played with the intentionality of trying to do the right thing,” he said. “As long as our intentions are there and our effort is there and our mindset is there — we didn’t execute great but it was the first game.”

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Even with the starters accounting for 61 points, the star of the game was Payton Pritchard.

The newly extended guard understood his role and exploded for 26 points off the bench.

“What you saw tonight and what you’ll see throughout the year is just his mindset and his professionalism to be prepared over the last three years,” Mazzulla said. “Guys like him, they get rewarded in some capacity, and as I said before we’re going to rely on him to give us another layer of toughness. Another layer of physicality. Another layer of playing with the right mindset.”

The Celtics don’t have much time to relax and reflect on the win however as they travel to the Big Apple to take on the New York Knicks on Monday night. Mazzulla said he didn’t have a game plan in place yet for the back-to-back set.