Boston Celtics reserve middle Neemias Queta hadn’t performed any true significant minutes but this season.
That modified in an enormous means throughout Boston’s 135-132 time beyond regulation loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Queta sat the primary three quarters on the bench earlier than Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla inserted him into the sport with 8:54 left in regulation and with Boston trailing by 21 factors. It seemed like the same old rubbish time minutes for the athletic seven-foot huge man.
However Queta along with his power on each ends of the ground alongside along with his relentlessness on the boards was proper within the center of a wild turnaround that noticed the Celtics make up that sizable deficit. Queta performed the remainder of the way in which, notching simply two factors however he grabbed 9 rebounds — 5 of which have been of the offensive selection — in 14 minutes. He completed with a plus-18 score, by far the perfect on the Celtics.
It was an unlikely efficiency in Boston’s first lack of the season and it drew a spherical of applause from Mazzulla.
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“It’s a credit score to him, a credit score to the blokes. They simply all the time stayed prepared,” Mazzulla instructed reporters, per NBC Sports activities Boston postgame protection. “We simply went with completely different lineups to attempt to chip away at it. All people performed a job in that. I assumed (Queta) did an amazing job on each ends of the ground, simply his exercise, his physicality gave us a spark. So, it was nice stuff by him and I respect that.”
Queta confirmed why the Celtics banked on his upside and rewarded him with a three-year contract this offseason — considerably a shocking deal provided that the 25-year-old performed simply 28 video games for Boston throughout the 2023-24 marketing campaign.
Queta threw down an alley-oop from Jaylen Brown simply seconds into getting onto the ground after which went to work corralling defensive rebounds and preserving possessions alive on the opposite finish of the ground with all-out effort.
One in every of Queta’s higher moments got here with 43.1 seconds left in regulation on a drive from Pacers guard Ben Sheppard. Sheppard drove baseline and tried to complete on the opposite aspect of the rim, however was met by Queta, who completely timed the whole lot for a key rejection.
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Mazzulla caught with Queta over Al Horford, Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman for almost the ultimate 9 minutes of regulation and time beyond regulation. Nobody from that trio has the identical sort of athleticism as Queta.
Whereas Horford’s function is solidified, Kornet and Tillman’s place within the rotation is extra fluid. And Queta’s sturdy exhibiting opened up the chance for him to presumably steal minutes from Kornet and Tillman going ahead.
