Unlikely Celtics Reserve Sparks Wild Turnaround In Loss To Pacers

Boston Celtics reserve center Neemias Queta hadn’t played any true meaningful minutes yet this season.

That changed in a big way during Boston’s 135-132 overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Queta sat the first three quarters on the bench before Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla inserted him into the game with 8:54 left in regulation and with Boston trailing by 21 points. It looked like the usual garbage time minutes for the athletic seven-foot big man.

But Queta with his energy on both ends of the floor along with his relentlessness on the boards was right in the middle of a wild turnaround that saw the Celtics make up that sizable deficit. Queta played the rest of the way, notching just two points but he grabbed nine rebounds — five of which were of the offensive variety — in 14 minutes. He finished with a plus-18 rating, by far the best on the Celtics.

It was an unlikely performance in Boston’s first loss of the season and it drew a round of applause from Mazzulla.

“It’s a credit to him, a credit to the guys. They just always stayed ready,” Mazzulla told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston postgame coverage. “We just went with different lineups to try and chip away at it. Everybody played a role in that. I thought (Queta) did a great job on both ends of the floor, just his activity, his physicality gave us a spark. So, it was great stuff by him and I appreciate that.”

Queta showed why the Celtics banked on his upside and rewarded him with a three-year contract this offseason — somewhat a surprising deal given that the 25-year-old played just 28 games for Boston during the 2023-24 campaign.

Queta threw down an alley-oop from Jaylen Brown just seconds into getting onto the floor and then went to work corralling defensive rebounds and keeping possessions alive on the other end of the floor with all-out effort.

One of Queta’s better moments came with 43.1 seconds left in regulation on a drive from Pacers guard Ben Sheppard. Sheppard drove baseline and tried to finish on the other side of the rim, but was met by Queta, who perfectly timed everything for a key rejection.

Mazzulla stuck with Queta over Al Horford, Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman for nearly the final nine minutes of regulation and overtime. No one from that trio has the same type of athleticism as Queta.

While Horford’s role is solidified, Kornet and Tillman’s position in the rotation is more fluid. And Queta’s strong showing opened up the opportunity for him to possibly steal minutes from Kornet and Tillman going forward.