Neemias Queta posts multiple career highs in Celtics loss Saturday

Boston Celtics

Queta scored 19 points and had 18 rebounds matching up against Rudy Gobert on Saturday night.

Neemias Queta had somewhat of a slow start to his first season as a starting center, but his development over the last few weeks has been a positive for the middling Celtics.

On Saturday night, Queta played the best game of his career, and did so against one of the best defensive centers in the NBA, Rudy Gobert.

Taking on the four-time NBA defensive player of the year didn’t seem to faze Queta, who finished his night with 19 points and 18 rebounds, both career highs.

Queta had the most points of any Celtic outside of Jaylen Brown, who dropped a cool 41 leading all scorers for either team.

But for Queta, who was widely viewed as one of Boston’s weakest starters coming into the season, nights like Saturday’s are proof that he can be a difference maker.

“He’s getting better, he’s giving us a shot,” Joe Mazzulla said of Queta postgame. “We’re obviously a different team when he’s on the floor … on both ends, but tonight you saw a clear difference offensively when he was out there. It’s a credit to him, he’s going to keep getting better.”

Queta now has four double-doubles this season and two in the last eight days. He logged 16 points and 12 rebounds in Boston’s loss to the Nets on Saturday. Unfortunately for the Celtics, Queta’s growth isn’t translating directly to wins. They’re 3-3 in games where Queta scores 10 or more points, and 5-5 in games where he records eight or more rebounds.

His presence is, however, translating to better offense for the Celtics. Having Queta near the rim to clean up misses on the offensive boards and create second chance points is invaluable to Boston’s scoring success. Getting five offensive rebounds in the first half helped the Celtics jump out to an early lead.

Boston’s lineup looks dramatically different without Jayson Tatum this season. But Queta’s increase in minutes could emerge as a silver lining during the challenging 2025-26 season.

The Celtics won’t have much time to regroup before another challenging matchup. They take on the Cavaliers on Sunday at 6 p.m.