After their worst begin to a season in a dozen years, the 2025-26 Celtics lastly secured their first victory Monday evening in New Orleans.
Boston rode a well-rounded scoring effort and a dominant fourth quarter to a 122-90 win over a Pelicans staff that was enjoying with out injured star Zion Williamson.
Six Celtics gamers scored in double figures, led by Anfernee Simons’ 25 off the bench on 9-of-17 taking pictures (6-for-13 from 3-point vary). Josh Minott (15 factors, 9 rebounds) was an all-around difference-maker in his first profession begin, with Boston outscoring New Orleans by a whopping 42 factors throughout his 28 minutes.
Payton Pritchard navigated the paint effectively to complete with 18 factors and eight assists, and Boston obtained productive outings from huge males Neemias Queta, who racked up seven offensive rebounds and 4 blocks, and Luka Garza, who hit his first three 3-pointers in a Celtics uniform on 4 makes an attempt.
The 1-3 Celtics now will return house to host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday evening at TD Backyard.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla trotted out his third totally different beginning lineup of the season towards winless New Orleans, inserting Minott alongside constant starters Pritchard, Queta, Derrick White and Jaylen Brown.
Minott was a DNP-CD final Friday evening in New York, however he gave the Celtics some sturdy minutes off the bench on Sunday. His 10 factors and two steals within the first 4 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 begin — he obtained the nod over Hugo Gonzalez and Sam Hauser on the second evening of a back-to-back — and it took him all of six seconds to register his first spotlight, skying to throw down a White lob off the opening tip. Minott, one among Boston’s prime performers this preseason, additionally grabbed 4 rebounds and drew a foul on an aggressive crash throughout his first six-minute shift.
The Celtics constructed a 14-point first-quarter lead however had bother defending it, very similar to they did of their loss to the Pistons sooner or later earlier. The participant who prompted Boston essentially the most consternation after its sturdy begin was, of all folks, 37-year-old huge man DeAndre Jordan, who simply signed with New Orleans final week. Jordan’s two emphatic dunks fueled an 8-0 Pelicans run that lower the C’s result in 34-32 three minutes into the second quarter.
Mazzulla reinserted Minott at that time, and the athletic 22-year-old once more helped shift momentum again towards Boston. Within the ensuing 90 seconds, he sank a layup, grabbed a defensive rebound, blocked a Trey Murphy III 3-pointer and drilled one among his personal. Shortly thereafter, Minott pulled down an offensive board, stole a Saddiq Bey go and slammed house a less-than-graceful fast-break dunk.
Dunk? 10/10
Touchdown? Room for enchancment 🤣 pic.twitter.com/16yuS4ZQBT— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 28, 2025
The awkward Minott slam stretched the Celtics’ lead again to double digits. They led 65-54 at halftime, with Minott, Brown, Pritchard and Simons all scoring in double figures within the first half. Minott was a plus-18 over his 12 first-half minutes, second-best behind Pritchard’s plus-21.
New Orleans staged one other rally halfway by the third quarter, getting buckets from Bey, Murphy and Yves Missi on 4 consecutive possessions to chop the deficit to 4. The Celtics have been in a position to climate that cost, as effectively, because of the contributions of two different wings.
Second-year professional Baylor Scheierman, used sparingly over Boston’s first 4 video games, recovered a free ball to arrange a second-chance 3-pointer from Hauser. Scheierman then recorded his first factors of the season with a 28-footer. Hauser, who’s come off the bench within the final two contests after beginning the primary two, additionally ran by an unlawful display to attract an offensive foul as Boston held New Orleans to simply 4 factors over the ultimate 4 minutes of the third quarter.
Boston’s backcourt then broke the sport open for good. White smothered a Jordan drive in midair — regardless of giving up seven inches and 75 factors to the veteran heart — to ignite a 25-2 Celtics drive that featured three Simons 3-pointers.
Different observations:
— Defensive rebounding was an enormous problem for the Celtics throughout their first 0-3 begin since 2013. They have been significantly better in that space Monday evening.
Although it helped that the Pelicans didn’t have Williamson (who grabbed 5 offensive rebounds in every of his first two video games), Boston held them to 11 OREBs on 59 missed photographs, three of which got here within the remaining two minutes.
The Celtics completed with a 54-35 edge in complete rebounds.
— Simons had his finest 3-point taking pictures evening as a Celtic, however Pritchard (2-for-7) and particularly White (1-for-9) are nonetheless lagging behind their regular 3-point effectivity. Pritchard was in a position to offset a few of these points by going 5-for-8 on 2-point area objectives, with 4 of these makes coming from between eight and 11 ft out.
Boston’s guard trio entered the sport taking pictures a mixed 25.6% from past the arc this season.
— The 2 gamers unnoticed of Mazzulla’s ever-changing rotation have been Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh. Walsh, who’s logged simply three minutes all season, didn’t see the ground till rubbish time, and Gonzalez was a wholesome DNP sooner or later after making his first NBA begin.
