Sometimes it feels like you know how 80% of a Celtics game is going to go.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are going to do half of the heavy lifting. Payton Pritchard and Derrick White will cover about another third. But it’s that other 15-20% that you’re going to get from your 5th, 6th, and down to your 9th or 10th man that’s unpredictable. Those role players just might swing a game and that game might just swing a series in the playoffs.
The Celtics roster is littered with guys like that. All year, everybody from Neemias Queta to Jordan Walsh to Hugo Gonzalez to Baylor Scheierman have won the Tommy Award.
And then there’s Luka Garza.
It wasn’t that long ago that Garza was the consensus National Player of the Year in college basketball. In 2020, he averaged 24 and 10 in his junior season at Iowa and followed that up with a First Team All-American selection.
Unfortunately, the college game doesn’t necessarily translate to the NBA. Garza persevered through four seasons with the Pistons and Timberwolves and has finally carved out a spot in Joe Mazzulla’s rotation.
With Nikola Vucevic, Boston’s major pickup at the trade deadline, on the mend, Garza is back terrorizing opposing teams’ frontcourts with his relentless work ethic in the paint, savvy screening above the break, and the occasional three-pointer that harkens back to Al Horford’s catapult-ish shot from behind the arc.
And even when Vooch returns, Celtics fans have resoundingly voted to keep Garza in the fold when the playoffs start next month. Maybe it’s just a two-minute stint in a double big lineup with Queta. Maybe Vucevic gets into early foul trouble. Maybe Mazzulla just wants to shake up the energy with the Garzilla roaming the baseline. Regardless, it’s clear that Luka has found a home in Boston.
If you want to shake up your energy, head on over to [https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba](https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nba).
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