Celtics-Grizzlies Player Grades: Brown Great Again, Clutch 4th From White, Garza

This wasn’t the Celtics prettiest basketball game, but they got what they needed, when they needed it, courtesy of Derrick White and Luka Garza in the fourth quarter. They went from down seven to up nine in about seven minutes to run away with the game, 117-112.

Box Score

Game Flow

The Celtics came out sloppy early on, but they were bailed out by Jaylen Brown’s individual scoring and Memphis missing a bunch of shots. The Grizzlies still managed to take a lead, but Payton Pritchard helped take it back with 10 in the quarter. Hugo Gonzalez’s monster dunk at the buzzer made sure they carried a two-point lead into the second quarter.

HUGOOO 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/vNWkth2jSJ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 21, 2026

The Celtics went cold missing their first seven three-pointers of the second quarter. They kept it close because Memphis couldn't stop fouling, and then Jaylen Brown helped fuel an 8-0 run to regain the lead. They lost the quarter by one, though, thanks to three three-pointers from Tyler Burton and Boston’s 32% shooting.

The Celtics sloppiness and cold shooting continued in the third quarter, fueling a 10-4 run that put Memphis up six.The Grizzlies lived off turnovers, and the Celtics made some rough ones. Brown continued to carry a bulk of the Celtics offense, but the Celtics kept making uncharacteristic mistakes on both ends of the floor. Amazingly, it left them down only four going into the fourth.

Ty Jerome hit some tough shots early in the fourth and yet another turnover and score put Memphis up seven. Derrick White got going to cut it back down to two. It triggered an 11-3 run that put Boston up one. White kept up the pressure, and was joined by Brown making incredible shots and extending the run to 19-5, and putting the Grizzlies away.

Here are three reasons why they won.

Derrick White woke up in the fourth

He said in his walk-off interview that he was playing about as bad as could be for three quarters, so he needed to wake up and come through in the fourth. He put up 11 points and three assists in the fourth to lead the Celtics out of their hole.

The Celtics lived on the offensive glass

They grabbed 40% of their misses, which is an absurd number. Six of the offensive rebounds belonged to Luka Garza, who grabbed three in the fourth to match White’s 11 points. The Celtics were +15 in second chance points, which feels pretty important in a five-point win.

Jaylen Brown was awesome again

He’s better today than he was when the season started. He is playing his best, most patient, most dominant basketball of the season right now.

Player Grades

Jaylen Brown: A (30 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists)

The Grizzlies defense is designed to pack the paint, but that didn’t stop Brown, who drove consistently and got to the rim almost at will. His reads once he gets there are really good. He’s definitely peaking right now.

Float like a butterfly, sting like JB 🥊 pic.twitter.com/fpdamaUxP5
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 21, 2026

Luka Garza: A (22 points, 8 rebounds (6 offensive), 1 assist, 1 steal)

What a high energy night for him. He was all over the glass, but he had some strong finishes at the rim as well. He also played almost the whole fourth quarter.

Derrick White: B (14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists)

His fourth quarter saved him from a rough grade. Obviously he does a bit of everything, so he’s rarely ever going to put up a D-grade performance, but he was close early on. But the fourth quarter is where he shines. He not only scored seven-straight points in the fourth, He assisted on the other three baskets Boston scored up until the 6:03 mark of the fourth.

Payton Pritchard: B (19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists)

The big demerits for him were the tough shooting (5-13, 3-10 3pt) and the four turnovers, which all seemed bad. But he was huge in the first quarter to keep Boston afloat when they weren’t hitting.

Neemias Queta: B- (12 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist)

His pass to Jaylen Brown in the corner had everyone ooh-ing and ahh-ing, but he only played 6:38 in the second half and was -7 in those minutes. He certainly had some good finishes, but Mazzulla went away from him later in the game and it opened up the offense.

Queta play PG!? 👀 pic.twitter.com/SaKQiINa0x
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 21, 2026

Jayson Tatum: C (13 points, 9 rebounds)

This game highlighted how progress in a return from injury is not linear and that sometimes it’s not going to look great. He shot 3-15 from the field (2-9 3pt.), but did get to the line six times.

He had a few drives that should have been dunks that were botched layup attempts or kick-outs.

Sam Hauser: C- (0 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block)

The calls to sit him and start Baylor Scheierman are getting louder.

Baylor Scheierman: B (7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists)

His work on the boards has been huge all season long.

Hugo Gonzalez: C (5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist)

His dunk was the highlight of an okay night.