Celtics show no signs of offseason issues in dominant preseason win over Hornets

The past month has not gone to plan for the Boston Celtics. Key free agent signing Danilo Gallinari tore his ACL while playing for Italy, Robert Williams III underwent knee surgery that will keep him out for eight-to-12 weeks and most recently head coach Ime Udoka was suspended for the entire season over a reported inappropriate relationship with a team staff member. 

All of which has left everyone wondering how the Celtics, coming off their loss to the Golden State Warriors in the Finals, would fare to start the season. How big of an impact would the on-court losses and off-court drama have? With the obvious caveat that games don’t matter until later this month, the initial answer is not at all. 

The Celtics were dominant on Sunday afternoon in a 134-93 win over the Charlotte Hornets in their opening preseason game. Jaylen Brown led the way with 24 points and five rebounds, while Jayson Tatum put up 16 points and six rebounds and Malcolm Brogdon added 11 points and nine assists off the bench. 

Here are some key takeaways from the Celtics’ first action of the season:

1. Going small to start

With Williams out until likely sometime in 2023, the first key decision for new interim head coach Joe Mazzulla is what to do about the starting lineup. There’s no Williams replacement on the roster, nor in the league, so the decision is not straightforward and could be subject to change. Here are the options:

Kornet suffered a minor ankle sprain during training camp and was unable to play on Sunday, so that option was not available for this game. As a result, Mazzulla decided to go small with White inserted into the starting lineup. Mazzulla said to read “nothing” into that decision, but he can’t expect anyone to actually do that. 

That group got off to a sloppy start, but then there was a one-minute stretch where they buried three consecutive 3-pointers, which showed the offensive upside of going small and spreading the floor.

2. Brogdon shows his worth

In addition to signing Gallinari, the Celtics also traded for Malcolm Brogdon during their exciting start to the offseason. The veteran guard has been injury prone throughout his career but figures to be a perfect addition if he can stay healthy. He showed why against the Hornets. 

The raw numbers: 11 points, five rebounds and nine assists on 4-of-9 from the field and 2-of-6 from 3-point land in 24 minutes off the bench. His…