Coming into Monday night, the Celtics (1-3) had lost their first three games to start the 2025-26 regular season.

And while that wasn’t all that surprising given the stiff competition they were facing coming out of the gate in the 76ers (3-0), Knicks (2-1) and Pistons (2-2) - two playoff teams from last season plus a Philly team with a playoff-caliber roster - it was the way they were losing these games that was concerning for Boston fans still looking for a competitive season even with all the roster turnover.

Even if the Pelicans (0-3) hung around longer than Celtics fans would have liked, there was no blown lead to speak of on Monday, as Boston turned on the jets in the fourth quarter to secure their first win of the 2025-6 season, beating New Orleans 122-90.

Here’s “5 Takeaways” from Monday’s game at Smoothie King Center:

1. Four Games In, Three Different Starting Fives

With Jayson Tatum likely out for the entire 2025-26 season and with the departures of Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet, we knew head coach Joe Mazzulla was going to be working with a different deck of cards for the top of his rotation in his fourth year as head coach.

And four games into year four, it’s clear that Mazzulla is still trying to figure out the right mix of guys, both with his starting lineups and substitution patterns.

Games 1 and 2, he went with Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta.

Game 3, he went with Pritchard, White, Brown, Queta and rookie Hugo Gonzalez.

And in Game 4, he rolled with Pritchard, White, Brown, Queta and newcomer Josh Minott.

The goofy thing about Gonzalez and Minott’s playing time the last two nights - against the Pistons, Minott was a DNP with Gonzalez playing 18 minutes, while the Pelicans game saw Gonzalez as a DNP with Minott logging 28 minutes.

I know Monday was the second night of a back-to-back, but Gonzalez is 19 years old. Minott is a young player, too, with this being only his fourth professional season at age 22. There’s almost no tread on either set of tires here. Both of these guys could have and should have been active on both nights, regardless of which guy was starting and which one wasn’t.

2. Why Not Minott?

I know he wasn’t a guy I had in either one of my final starting lineup predictions before the season started, but I did throw out the idea of Minott competing for a starting role after a big performance in the preseason.

And on Monday night in New Orleans, he made that thought experiment from the preseason look like something a genius would come up with.

The 6-foot-8 forward was a staggering +42 on the night, filling up the stat sheet with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 assist. He was 2-2 from the charity stripe and 1-3 from beyond the arc.

On the opening play of the game, Minott broke free behind the defense and caught a sick alley-oop pass from White for a dunk to open the scoring on the evening. That set the tone for the fast-paced game he would play the rest of the night, constantly around the ball with active hands, picking up his man full-court on defense, and making the most of his first career start as a pro.

What this means for Minott potentially starting again moving forward? I have no idea. Clearly Mazzulla is still tweaking the lineup on multiple fronts, so to predict anything on that end would be a fool’s errand. With that said, I have to imagine a game like this means we won’t be seeing Minott popping up as a “DNP - Coach’s Decision” again anytime soon.

3. Rebounding!

After getting out-rebounded 110-75 over their last two games, the Celtics dominated the glass on Monday, winning the rebound battle 54-35.

It feels like a lazy take at this point, but sometimes the obvious thing to say is exactly what needs to be said:

When you lose Horford, Porzingis, Kornet and Tatum from a lineup, you’re going to lose an immense amount of rebounding ability from your team.

They’ve replaced that size with more minutes for Queta, along with newcomers Luka Garza and Chris Boucher. Not to be mean, but Queta/Garza/Boucher hits way differently than Horford/Porzingis/Kornet. And that’s borne out over the early part of this season.

Queta had 11 boards on the night, and Garza had 6 off the bench in 19 minutes of action. Minott’s aforementioned 9 and Brown’s 7 were also big reasons why Boston was able to control the pace of the game from start to finish.

4. 31-4 Run Seals The Win

Even though they were only 18-53 from three on the night, it was their production from deep down the stretch that turned this game into a blowout.

A 31-4 run to close out a game is the type of thing we saw from the 2023-24 Celtics on their way to a title. I don’t think we’re going to get this type of run that often this season, so let’s celebrate it when we do.

A nod to Anfernee Simons for lighting it up late, ending the night 6-13 from three with 25 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 assist. That’s the type of game that backs up the excitement fans had this summer when Simons was the return in the Holiday deal. I know that type of instant offense off the bench is extremely valuable in this league, but I wonder if Mazzulla sees Simons’ hot hand and thinks it could be even more valuable to him playing 30+ minutes a night.

Also want to give a nod to Garza for going 3-4 from deep. Any time a big man can stretch the floor offensively, it’s going to help open up a lot more opportunities for the guys around him.

5. I’ve Given Up On Jordan Walsh

I say that because it feels like Mazzulla has, too.

Through four games and all the weird lineups he’s run out there, Walsh has combined for 3 total minutes of playing time across two appearances thus far. In those other two games, Walsh was a “DNP - Coach’s Decision.”

At 6-foot-6, I was convinced Walsh was going to eventually grow into being a versatile, athletic wing for this team, someone who could be an obvious backup for guys like Tatum and Brown as he continued to progress in his career.

That, clearly, is not the case. And I’ll fully admit, I was completely fooled by his performance as a rookie in Summer League. He was a guy in Vegas that looked like someone fully capable of one day being a rotational player at the NBA level. Hand up, I was wrong. And I should’ve known better than to let Summer League action color any meaningful opinions as it relates to regular season hoops. Amateur stuff by me. Won’t let it happen again.

Walsh is making $2.2 million to sit on the end of the bench this season, as a constant reminder to me of how wrong I was about the 2023 38th overall pick out of Arkansas. Good work if you can get it!

Lingering Thoughts & Nuggets:

- I am far from a member of the “We Police,” as I like to call it. If fans want to refer to their favorite teams as “we” when having conversations on sports radio, at a sports bar, with friends, whatever, go for it. The whole ‘oh I didn’t know you played for the team’ thing is lame - sports aren’t that deep. If anything, it’s about community. Let fans “fan” how they wanna “fan.” Broadcasters, on the other hand - that’s a different story. I know Eddie House and Brian Scalabrine played for the franchise, and I know they’ve both been running with “we” on the team broadcasts for a few years now. But for some reason, tonight’s broadcast was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. Every time one of them said “we,” it was like nails on a chalkboard. I need it to stop. Immediately.

- I saw the stat both on the pregame show and online about the only four times the Celtics started their season 0-4, they missed the playoffs each of those four times. And while 2025-26 won’t be a fifth time in franchise history for that record, I don’t think Boston was going to miss the playoffs if they did, indeed, start 0-4. I had them at 2-2 in their first four in my blink test column before their first game, full-well knowing that three of those four games weren’t going to be easy wins. My point here is that I’m not panicking and neither should you.

- My guy Boucher only logged 3 minutes on Monday night, and has not been a big part of Boston’s rotation through four games. That’s definitely been a surprise to me, as I thought the guy was going to start for them. Perhaps I was too high on a guy who has made his entire career as being a bench guy for Toronto (1-3), but I was convinced that versatile 6-foot-9 frame with a nice offensive skillset would be something this rotation would need this season. So far, that hasn’t been the case.

- No Zion Williamson on Monday night for New Orleans, which is disappointing as a basketball fan. When that guy is healthy, he’s one of the most electrifying players in the league. But that’s the thing - the dude just can’t stay healthy. He was a late scratch on Monday with a bone contusion in his left foot. In his sixth season, Williamson has played 61 games or more just twice in his career. He played in 30 games this past season before New Orleans shut him down in March because of a bone contusion in his back.

Up next for the Celtics - a return to TD Garden for their first game this season against the defending top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers (3-1)

Tip-off for that one is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.

Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.