On Wednesday night at TD Garden, the Celtics wrapped up their fourth and final preseason game of the 2025-26 season with a 110-108 victory over the Toronto Raptors, giving Boston a 3-1 record for their exhibition season.

One week from Wednesday, the results from these games will start to matter again. Regular season basketball returns, and the Celtics open their season at home against the 76ers. Tip-off for that one is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.

But before we look ahead to the 2025-26 regular season, let’s recap the end of the preseason with four takeaways from Wednesday night:

1. Jaylen Brown left the game with left hamstring tightness

At the 4:51 mark in the first quarter, Brown came off the floor in what looked like a routine substitution after what was a great start to the game for the former Finals MVP (7 points in 7 minutes with 2 rebounds and a steal).

But when you slow down the telecast, you can see Brown walking by the scorer’s table as head coach Joe Mazzulla was mid-berating a ref.

Brown was grabbing his left hamstring, and said something to lead assistant Sam Cassell as he made his way down the bench.

After being seen talking to trainers by the bench, Brown headed down the tunnel back to the locker room. And a mere moments later, the Celtics announced the 28-year-old was doubtful to return with “left hamstring tightness.”

Doubtful turned to definite, as Brown’s night was over after only 7 minutes of action. And no, this is not one of those “I get it, it’s preseason” moments that I’ve been including as caveats throughout everything I’ve written this exhibition season. Whatever it was that happened, it was bad enough to end his night.

Sure, it could end up being nothing. And make no mistake about it - this year’s version of the Celtics cannot afford it to be anything more than nothing.

I went back on my DVR to see what led to the grabbing of the hamstring:

At 5:15 in the first quarter, Ochai Agbaji missed a corner three, leading to a rebound by Celtics center Luka Garza. In an attempt to push the pace, Garza got the ball to Brown, who was looking to facilitate some fastbreak points by dribbling up the middle of the floor.

After just two dribbles, Brown tossed the ball to a cutting Anfernee Simons on the left wing. And as his new teammate dribbled toward the basket in search of a streaking Garza towards the rim, Brown faded off towards the sideline while grabbing his hammy.

Simons’ pass eventually led to a turnover, which had Toronto attempting a fastbreak of their own. And as Toronto’s RJ Barrett finished a layup, Brown could be loafing back in transition, hanging by the arc while still grabbing that leg.

On the ensuing Boston possession, Brown hobbled toward the left corner while the offense began setting up some action on the right wing. Before they could get anything going, Garza was called for a questionable offensive after unsuccessfully trying to screen the Raptors’ Immanuel Quickly.

(to come full circle - this was why Mazzulla was berating the ref)

With the stoppage in action, subs came in, sending Brown to the bench. His night was over, and Celtics fans all collectively began to hold their breath until postgame.

Unfortunately for them, the head coach didn’t have much information to share.

“Any update on Jaylen?” asked Zach Cox of The Boston Herald.

“No, there is not one,” said Mazzulla. “I think he’ll be OK. I talked to him, he said he’ll be fine. But I didn’t get a full update. I’m sorry.”

If there’s one thing this Boston team cannot afford this season, it’s losing Jaylen Brown for any sort of extended stretch.

With Jayson Tatum likely out for the entire season as he continues to rehab his Achilles, this has to be Brown’s season to shine. The second-banana spot must be passed along to someone else, as the top spot unequivocally goes to the 10-year pro out of Cal.

Tatum is out. Al Horford plays for the Warriors. Jrue Holiday played for the Trail Blazers. Kristaps Porzingis plays for the Hawks. Luke Kornet plays for the Spurs.

The early part of this season is going to be a lot of this team figuring out who they are moving forward. Brown was-and-is obviously going to be a huge part of that. Missing time at the beginning of the season as the new foundation is being laid down would be a devastating blow towards Boston’s chances of remaining a top team in the Eastern Conference sans Tatum.

For the sake of having a competitive basketball season, let’s hope Mazzulla’s postgame read on the situation was an accurate one.

…but if Patriots All-Pro cornerback Christian Gonzalez taught us anything about hamstrings this year, they can make for a tricky, unpredictable rehab process.

2. That’s the Neemias Queta we’ve all been waiting for!

Getting the start in the middle on Wednesday, the 7-foot center from Portugal finally showed Celtics fans the EuroBasket version of himself.

After clips of Queta began circulating Celtics Twitter this summer of the 26-year-old dominating the international tournament while playing for his home country, the expectations for the Utah State-product grew exponentially.

No Horford? No Porzingis? No problem. We got an ascending center in Queta!

But through the first part of the exhibition slate, that version of Queta was nowhere to be found - especially against Toronto on Friday night when he accounted for more turnovers (5) than points (4) in 17 minutes of action.

In his team’s preseason rematch with the Raptors, though, Queta exacted his revenge.

Grabbing 12 boards and blocking 4 shots, Queta looked like a force to be reckoned with in the middle of the Boston defense. He was 4 for 7 shooting from the floor, scoring 8 points and adding 2 assists to his boxscore.

That’s the Queta this team needs in 2025-26, especially if he wants to stick around Boston for the long term.

3. The starting five should be…

Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Chris Boucher and Neemias Queta.

I think what you saw tonight makes the most season for Boston on most nights this upcoming regular season.

Pritchard and White give you the traditional 1-2 backcourt combination, with the reigning Sixth Man of the Year having the opportunity to show he can be a complete point guard next to the do-it-all defensive standout in White.

Brown is Brown. If he’s healthy, he’s your Option A, B and C on offense, and he’ll likely be guarding your best player on defense (please be healthy).

I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Boucher a lot this preseason. His lanky 6-foot-9 frame allows him to guard basically all five positions on the floor (depending on the opponent’s center on any given night), and he showed an ability to score in a variety of ways during Preseason Game 2 up in his hold stomping grounds of Toronto.

That night, Boucher accounted for 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting, going 2 for 5 from three and 3 of 4 from the free throw line. He led the game in rebounds with 9, and added 2 assists, a block and a steal. He finished with a game-high +22, just one game after finishing with second highest plus-minus on the team at +16.

At 32 years old, Boucher has a resume that includes six different franchise bench-records for the Raptors, as well as 2 NBA Championship rings. He won back-to-back titles to open his career, as he was a rookie on the 2018 Warriors before joining Toronto ahead of their championship-winning 2018-19 season.

Put him next to Queta, and hope that what you saw on Wednesday night from the Portugal-product is what you get most nights on defense moving forward.

On nights where a smaller lineup is needed, this would be my preferred alternative:

Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser and Chris Boucher.

Think “Warriors Death Lineup” where Draymond played center, except substitute out five future Hall of Famers for three above-average offensive players, a career bench body, and Jaylen Brown.

I think Boucher has the size and versatility to deal with some of the more athletic lineups in the league. I also think Hauser brings underrated defense to go along with his three point shooting acumen. It might not look pretty on paper, but I think it’ll play against smaller teams.

In both lineups described above, I like Anfernee Simons slotting in as the sixth man, giving Boston the ability for instant offense off the bench while not asking the 26-year-old to do too much defensively. We’ve seen his scoring ability on display this preseason. I believe Mazzulla is going to be able to unlock the former Blazer.

No word yet on what Mazzulla’s starting lineup will look like ahead of next week’s opening night game against Philadelphia. My guess is this - if Joel Embiid is in the lineup, the Queta lineup described above will be the starting rotation.

4. Xavier Tillman called game!

I'm not going to give you a full breakdown of the play, because ultimately it's only preseason basketball. And let's be honest, you don't really care.

Two things about this matter:

1. The fact that the Celtics needed a buzzer-beater to avoid overtime after leading late with their backups in was another alarming example of this team's lack of depth outside of its true rotational guys. They were physically unable to break a press, which was part of what led to Toronto's successful comeback on Friday as well.

2. Xavier Tillman's 12-pound offseason weight loss has served him well. He looks to he a pep in his step that we really haven't seen during his entire time here in Boston. I remember towards the middle of last season, there were chatter on the beat of Tillman possibly never playing again because of his bad knees. But now, given the current state of the roster, I believe a reinvigorated Tillman could have an outsized role on the 2025-26 Celtics.

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.