Marcus Smart, playing his first game in Boston as an opponent, drove on former teammate Jayson Tatum.
Marcus Smart, playing his first game in Boston as an opponent, drove on former teammate Jayson Tatum.Winslow Townson/Getty
Maybe it was fitting that on the night that Marcus Smart played his first game at the Garden as an opponent, the Celtics’ collective performance almost read as an homage to their beloved and (mostly) trusted former teammate.
In Saturday night’s 127-121 loss to the Grizzlies, the Celtics bombed 3s — a record 23 in the first quarter alone, and 60 overall. They mass-produced missed shots, with just 18 makes from long distance, and Jrue Holiday, Smart’s de facto replacement, going 4 for 17. They careened all over the court to the point multiple players appeared to be seriously injured at certain moments, and got caught up in the chaos of playing against a more athletic, feisty, and darned good Memphis team.
Yep, this was the most the Celtics have looked like a Marcus Smart kind of team since he was traded to the Grizzlies in June 2023 as part of a tough but necessary three-way deal that brought Kristaps Porzingis and, come June 2024, Banner 18 to Boston.
(It should be noted that Smart shot 1 of 11 from the field and 1 of 6 from 3-point range in 19 minutes. During his nine seasons as a Celtics, it was well established that there was a Good Marcus and a Bad Marcus when it came to shot selection. No discussion is required regarding which version this was, but it sure was good to see him.)
Ex-Celtic Marcus Smart acknowledged the crowd during his first game as an opponent at TD Garden.
Ex-Celtic Marcus Smart acknowledged the crowd during his first game as an opponent at TD Garden.Mark Stockwell/Associated Press
Losses for the defending champs this season have been predictably rare — this was their fifth in 24 games, and none has been by more than 6 points. This was a defeat — a weird game, where the specter of injury refused to stop looming — you don’t dwell on too much, but just kind of exhale and move on.
The loss came with small frustrations, some of which have existed in a macro sense this season. The Celtics flipped the on/off switch with their defensive effort a little too often, especially in transition. The ball didn’t move as much as those of us raised on the Larry Legend-era Celtics would like. These are not huge detriments or signs of a bigger issue; it’s sort of reminiscent of the championship Warriors teams that mastered stepping on the accelerator just when you thought you had a chance. But the casualness of what we know to be a truly great team can be annoying in the moment.
It’s fascinating to watch how coach Joe Mazzulla handles the game-to-game challenges of being the title holder, and therefore the team every opponent will do anything to beat.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins gimmicked it up defensively, essentially daring Holiday to take all the corner 3s his heart desired. A season ago, that would have been a detrimental strategy, when Holiday hit 60.4 percent of his corner 3s. But his aim has not been true this season — the 34-year old guard is shooting just 30.6 percent on corner 3s, and 32.8 percent from 3-point range overall.
Jaylen Brown had inside position on the Grizzlies' Jaren Jackson Jr. in a battle for a loose ball at TD Garden.
Jaylen Brown had inside position on the Grizzlies' Jaren Jackson Jr. in a battle for a loose ball at TD Garden.Winslow Townson/Getty
Holiday went 3 of 8 from 3 in the first quarter, but a player who is probably the least likely to be rattled among all Celtics clearly struggled with how to counter the Grizzlies’ bold strategy when makeable 3s refused to fall.
I thought Mazzulla should have adjusted sooner, maybe by putting Holiday in the dunker’s spot on the baseline, or using him as a screener. But I get why he didn’t — he wanted to get a look at, and see how his team would respond to, one of the junk defenses that the Celtics are sure to see along the way in pursuit of Banner 19. As Jaylen Brown — who also had a weird game, with just 14 shot attempts — put it, “teams have got to do magic tricks, try to pull rabbits out of hats, to try and beat us.”
The Celtics have a quasi-break coming up, with just two games over 11 days. They’ve earned it: The Grizzlies game was their fifth in seven days and their sixth in nine. It’s an easy loss to write off, really.
It came as the second half of a back-to-back after Friday’s stirring win over the Bucks, which included a stellar fourth-quarter performance from Holiday against his former team. Al Horford got a DNP-ancient, Sam Hauser left early with an adductor injury, Jayson Tatum went 1 of 10 from 3, Porzingis and Derrick White spent way too much time ricocheting off the parquet while we held our breath … and yet they nearly pulled it off.
When not much of anything goes right, you’re exhausted and up against a spry and determined young team, and yet you still nearly steal the win, well, that’s a sign of a champion, too, in a certain way.
It’s always frustrating to lose. But with these Celtics, even on difficult nights, faith has no reason to waver.
Chad Finn can be reached at chad.finn@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeChadFinn.