Preseason ledger: Boston won the glass and forced 80 turnovers

The Boston Celtics finished the preseason 4-0 and outscored opponents by 75 points, with two numbers doing most of the work: a 222-162 edge in rebounds and 80 opponent turnovers against 67 of their own. The regular season opens Tuesday at Detroit.

Both edges came in exhibition games with shifting rotations, and the final game showed where they can slip.

The glass

Boston out-rebounded Cleveland 56-39 in the opener, Philadelphia 63-34 in the second game and the 76ers again, 63-46, in the finale. Charlotte was the exception: the Hornets held a 43-40 rebounding edge, and Boston still won 114-93 behind a 29-10 turnover gap.

Takeaways, and the cost

Opponents turned the ball over 11 times against Cleveland, then 22, 29 and 18 times. Boston's steals followed the same path: 6 against Cleveland, then 16, 16 and 13. The 80 forced turnovers work out to 20 a game, against 11.9 a game in 2025-26, a mark that ranked 29th in the league. The league average last season was 13.8.

The finale is the caution. Boston committed 21 turnovers at Philadelphia, its most of the four games, and forced 18. Across the preseason, the Celtics committed more turnovers than they forced twice: against Cleveland (16 to 11) and in the finale (21 to 18).

The finale was still a win, 125-120, because Boston took 108 shots to Philadelphia's 92. The Celtics grabbed 18 offensive rebounds to the 76ers' 5 and shot 41% from the field. Hugo Gonzalez scored 21 points in 20 minutes off the bench.

What the opener tests

None of this guarantees a regular-season pattern. Preseason rotations change from game to game, and none of these four games counts in the standings.

The first three regular-season games supply the first real read: the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday, the New York Knicks at TD Garden on Oct. 23 and the Chicago Bulls at home on Oct. 26. Two benchmarks follow from the preseason: whether Boston forces more than last season's 11.9 turnovers a game, and whether it keeps a positive rebounding margin.

Sources: box score data and league schedule data, with Celtics Crew's calculations from them.