LAS VEGAS — The Celtics led from start to finish Sunday night and pulled away in the second half for a 94-81 win over the Knicks in Summer League action. The victory improves Boston to 2-0 in Las Vegas, putting them in contention for the championship round halfway through their schedule.
First-round pick Hugo Gonzalez did not suit up but the Celtics had plenty of contributors in his absence as five different players scored in double figures in the win. Boston led by as many as 20 points in the second half and held a double-digit edge for the entire second half thanks to strong defense that forced the Knicks into poor shooting and a host of turnovers.
Jalen Bridges scored 15 points for Boston in his Summer League debut, while Charles Bassey led Boston in scoring during his second straight double-double off the bench in the victory.
Kevin McCullar Jr. led all scorers with 30 points in the setback for the Knicks, who fell to 0-2 in Las Vegas after the defeat.
The Celtics are back in action against the Heat at 8 p.m. ET on Monday. Here are four takeaways from Sunday’s win over the Knicks.
Baylor Scheierman starts strong and fills up the box score: The second-year forward shook off a tough shooting night in Boston’s opener on Friday and responded by putting his fingerprints all over a hot start for Boston. Scheierman scored or assisted on Boston’s first 13 points as the Celtics jumped out to a 13-4 run to kick off regulation. Scheierman also fueled the outburst with his defenses, tallying three steals in the first five minutes of the game that helped lead to easy offense going the other way for Boston. Scheierman is going to have more chances to be an initiator within the Celtics’ second unit next season, and he looked ready to fill that role Sunday, finishing with 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Hugo Gonzalez gets a day off: The rookie wing saw some expected load management in Game 2 in Celtics Summer League as the 19-year-old was rested on the front half of the back-to-back Sunday along with two-way forward Miles Norris. Brad Stevens spoke about why the team wants to rest him more coming off his season in Real Madrid.
“Generally with a 19-year-old you just throw him to the Wolves and let it fly,” Stevens said Saturday. “But coming from Madrid and just finishing is quite a lot to ask. We told him to take a long weekend and come to Boston a couple days later and he got there two days after he was drafted. So he’s gonna be due for a rest here after summer league’s over. So we’ll manage that appropriately. He plays really hard.”
Jalen Bridges makes a strong first impression: The former Suns two-way forward made his first appearance in Summer League in place of Hugo Gonzalez in Boston’s starting five. He showed plenty of athleticism in his performance as he made life tough for the Knicks on the wing. He also showed a good finishing touch around the basket despite the tough shooting night. Boston is loading up with young wings with their draft and free agency moves in Jayson Tatum’s absence and Bridges will be an intriguing guy to watch in training camp push some of the roster players potentially.
Charles Bassey keeps building case for camp invite: The big man put together his second straight double-double off the bench, maximizing his limited minutes with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Bassey does not have a ton of size down low but continues to look a cut above his Summer League competition especially with his rebounding and defense (three blocks, two steals). It remains to be seen whether the Celtics will offer Bassey a deal beyond Summer League but he only helped himself on that front again Sunday night.
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