The Boston Celtics pushed their record on the young 2023-24 campaign to 11-2 after grinding out a hard-fought 102-100 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night. It wasn't the type of dominant victory that the C's and their fans have been accustomed to seeing when they are playing at their peak, but that may actually be for the better for this team.

In many ways, this was a game that the Celtics should have lost. They looked out of sorts on offense all night long, and allowed Desmond Bane and Santi Aldama to combine for 58 points, despite the fact they were playing on the second night of a back-to-back. The Grizzlies were 3-9 entering this game, and while they played on their home court, this felt like a game where Boston should have coasted to victory.

Instead, it was one where they had to work for everything they got, and they still managed to leave Memphis with a victory. While it's always fun to see the C's firing on all cylinders and demolishing their opponents, these are the sorts of victories that will help them in the long run. And in the process, the Celtics are developing a great habit of winning games they normally would have lost in previous seasons.

The Celtics are winning games they have typically lost in past seasons

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Throughout the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown era of Celtics history, Boston has been one of the best teams in the NBA. They have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in five of the past seven seasons, and they have almost always been viewed as one of the top title contenders in the league during this time. Despite that, they certainly do not come without their flaws.

The main issue with the C's during this period of time has been their late-game offense crumbling, which leads to them throwing away games that they should have won. Looking strictly at the playoffs, you can find several examples of this in either of Boston's ECF losses to the Miami Heat or their Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors. Remember, this team was about five minutes away from taking a 3-1 series lead in the 2022 NBA Finals.

The hope in Boston was that the additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday would help them find a way to win those close games that they needed to win. They also want to win grind-it-out games where things don't necessarily go their way, but you have to find a way to win. It's only a 13-game sample size, but so far, the Celtics are proving that they can do both of those things.

At their peak, Boston can blow any team out of the water; it's when they aren't playing their best basketball that they have struggled to win in previous seasons. Had this been the 2022-23 version of the Celtics, there's no shot they would have beaten the Grizzlies on Sunday. Memphis was being extremely physical on both sides of the ball, and hitting timely shots to keep themselves in the game.

The offense wasn't clicking, the Grizzlies were playing good, and the Celtics were trailing late in the fourth. And yet, they found a way to pull out this game, thanks in large part to a dominant outing from Porzingis (26 PTS, 8 REB, 1 AST, 6 BLK, 9/13 FGM). This is exactly the reason why Boston went and traded their heart and soul in Marcus Smart for Porzingis.

Beyond this game, Boston has also gone out and won close games over top competitors in the East such as the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, and New York Knicks to begin the season. In each of those contests, the Celtics closed out the game in a way that they had been unable to consistently do in the previous season. The best example of this was probably their season-opening win over the Knicks.

When you get into dog-fights in the playoffs over the course of a seven-game series, there are going to be close, down-to-the-wire games where you have to know how to pick up a victory. There are also going to be nights where things don't go your way, but you have a chance to win. In order to be a champion, you have to win those sorts of games. So far, Boston has done that.

There are going to be more challenging games that arise over the course of the season, and the Celtics are going to have to continue to prove that they can come out on top when everything is going against them. The good news is that this team is built to overcome that adversity, and so far, they have proven as much. The C's win over the Grizzlies may not seem all that glamorous, but this could prove to be a crucial building block for the team's DNA if they want to go on and win it all this season.