Two newcomers lead way as Celtics blow out Pelicans for first win

After their worst start to a season in a dozen years the - Celtics conclusively secured their first triumph Monday night in New Orleans Boston rode a well-rounded scoring effort and a dominant fourth quarter to a - win over a Pelicans club that was playing without injured star Zion Williamson Six Celtics players scored in double figures led by Anfernee Simons off the bench on -of- shooting -for- from -point range Josh Minott points nine rebounds was an all-around difference-maker in his first career start with Boston outscoring New Orleans by a whopping points across his minutes Payton Pritchard navigated the paint well to finish with points and eight assists and Boston got productive outings from big men Neemias Queta who racked up seven offensive rebounds and four blocks and Luka Garza who hit his first three -pointers in a Celtics uniform on four attempts The - Celtics now will return home to host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night at TD Garden Head coach Joe Mazzulla trotted out his third different starting lineup of the season against winless New Orleans inserting Minott alongside consistent starters Derrick White Payton Pritchard Jaylen Brown and Neemias Queta Minott was a DNP-CD last Friday night in New York but he gave the Celtics particular strong minutes off the bench on Sunday His points and two steals in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter helped spark an ill-fated late-game rally in Detroit That effort earned the fourth-year wing his first NBA start he got the nod over Hugo Gonzalez and Sam Hauser on the second night of a back-to-back and it took him all of six seconds to register his first highlight skying to throw down a White lob off the opening tip Minott one of Boston s top performers this preseason also grabbed four rebounds and drew a foul on an aggressive crash during his first six-minute shift The Celtics built a -point first-quarter lead but had trouble protecting it much like they did in their loss to the Pistons one day earlier The sportsman who caused Boston the the bulk consternation after its strong start was of all people -year-old big man DeAndre Jordan who just signed with New Orleans last week Jordan s two emphatic dunks fueled an - Pelicans run that cut the C s lead to - three minutes into the second quarter Mazzulla reinserted Minott at that point and the athletic -year-old again helped shift momentum back toward Boston In the ensuing seconds he sank a layup grabbed a defensive rebound blocked a Trey Murphy III -pointer and drilled one of his own Shortly thereafter Minott pulled down an offensive board stole a Saddiq Bey pass and slammed home a less-than-graceful fast-break dunk Dunk Landing Room for improvement pic twitter com yuS ZQBT Boston Celtics celtics October The awkward Minott slam stretched the Celtics lead back to double digits They led - at halftime with Minott Brown Pritchard and Simons all scoring in double figures in the first half Minott was a plus- over his first-half minutes second-best behind Pritchard s plus- New Orleans staged another rally midway through the third quarter getting buckets from Bey Murphy and Yves Missi on four consecutive possessions to cut the deficit to four The Celtics were able to weather that charge as well thanks to the contributions of two other wings Second-year pro Baylor Scheierman used sparingly over Boston s first four games recovered a loose ball to set up a second-chance -pointer from Hauser Scheierman then recorded his first points of the season with a -footer Hauser who s come off the bench in the last two contests after starting the first two also ran through an illegal screen to draw an offensive foul as Boston held New Orleans to just four points over the final four minutes of the third quarter Boston s backcourt then broke the encounter open for good White smothered a Jordan drive in midair despite giving up seven inches and points to the veteran center to ignite a - Celtics drive that featured three Simons -pointers Other observations Defensive rebounding was a massive issue for the Celtics during their first - start since They were much better in that area Monday night Though it helped that the Pelicans did not have Williamson who grabbed five offensive rebounds in each of his first two games Boston held them to OREBs on missed shots three of which came in the final two minutes The Celtics finished with a - edge in total rebounds Simons had his best -point shooting night as a Celtic but Pritchard -for- and especially White -for- are still lagging behind their usual -point efficiency Pritchard was able to offset specific of those issues by going -for- on -point field goals with four of those makes coming from between eight and feet out Boston s guard trio entered the match shooting a combined from beyond the arc this season The two players left out of Mazzulla s ever-changing rotation were Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh Walsh who s logged just three minutes all season didn t see the floor until garbage time and Gonzalez was a healthy DNP one day after making his first NBA start