LAS VEGAS — The Boston Celtics have swept through the “regular season” portion of their Las Vegas schedule, winning their first four Summer League games and going into the weekend tournament as the top seed.
In a 113-87 win Thursday night against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Celtics were led by Grant Williams with 21 points, which is especially impressive because it came 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range. He hasn’t had the most consistent week from deep, but when he’s on, he’s on. He was one of six Celtics in double figures.
Summer league sensation Tacko Fall, the recipient of numerous loud chants and continued applause as he checked in, rewarded his frenzied fan club with 12 points and four blocks.
The Celtics will play Memphis again Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
Here are five things we learned as the Celtics improved to 4-0 in Las Vegas:
Max Strus can shoot: We haven’t seen a ton of Strus in Vegas, but this was a good reminder of why the Celtics handed him a two-way deal. He shot 3 for 7 from 3-point range against the Grizzlies. He still has to prove that the rest of his game is worthy of NBA minutes, but he’s got the size (6-foot-6) and the shot to be an offensive threat.
Tremont Waters is shifty: “He’s super savvy. The game comes so easy to him on both ends,” Celtics Coach Brad Stevens said of Waters earlier in the week. He has a remarkable ability to get defenders off balance and then hit them with a burst of speed to get the space he needs to make a play.
Waters’ only limitation is his size. He is a very good point guard that has NBA-level talent. He’s proven that over and over in summer league. The next thing he has to prove is that he can do it against NBA-level defenders.
Robert Williams looked like a guy with NBA experience: It most certainly wasn’t a perfect game for him, but it was a very good one. The Celtics have been running offense through Williams in the high post to get him used to dribble handoffs and pick-and-rolls. The obvious goal is to get him rolling to the rim to take advantage of his freak athleticism. Speaking of which, he nearly hit his head on the rim on an alley oop.
Williams finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds, a nice sign of progress over the course of the week.
Carsen Edwards will pull up from anywhere: You know by now that Edwards is a scorer. This is the first game where he didn’t lead the team in scoring, but he still managed a nice 15-point night.
Grant Williams is a plus-minus god: He likes to say he impacts winning, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s doing just that this week.
POLICE IN West Haven, Connecticut said the father of Boston Celtics rookie Tremont Waters was found dead in a motel room, and the death has been ruled a suicide.
Ed Waters, 49, was found dead at a Super 8 Motel just after noon on Thursday.
Tremont Waters, who starred at Notre Dame High School in West Haven, was drafted by Boston in the second round of this year’s draft. He signed a two-way contract with the Celtics and is expected to play for the Maine Red Claws.
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