The Celtics are running it back. Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Paul George, Jordan Walsh and Mitchell Robinson will start for Boston against the Charlotte Hornets, giving the team the same five-man group for the second straight preseason game.
For Jordan Walsh, it is another step up in a short stretch of time. He played 11 minutes in the previous preseason game, yet he is back in the starting group alongside Tatum, White, George and Robinson as Boston continues to sort out its rotation before the games start to count.
The lineup is familiar because it already produced a result. That same group opened Boston’s Saturday night 144-106 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers, a game that also showed how the minutes were spread around the roster. Mitchell Robinson logged 14 minutes in that one, while Payton Pritchard played 24, Sam Hauser and Hugo Gonzalez each played 21, and Baylor Scheierman and Neemias Queta each played 19.
That is the part that makes this more than a simple preseason note. Boston is using the same starters again, but it is still not clear whether that will be the group on Opening Night against the Detroit Pistons next Tuesday. Preseason lineups are being tested, not locked in, and the Celtics’ choices against Charlotte suggest the staff is still weighing who fits where once the games matter.
The Hornets will counter with Naz Reid, Royce O’Neale, Moussa Diabate, Brandon Miller and Dennis Schroder. Reid, O’Neale and Schroder are offseason additions, giving Charlotte a different look of its own as both teams use this game to measure combinations rather than chase a final answer.
The Celtics still have one more chance to show their preferred shape before the regular season arrives. They play their final preseason game on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia, and that matchup should offer the clearest clue yet about whether this starting five is simply a preseason holdover or the group Boston intends to trust when Opening Night arrives.
