Xavier Tillman Sr. was playing on a struggling Memphis Grizzlies team battling injuries when he was traded shortly before the February trade deadline.

Memphis traded Tillman to the Boston Celtics, and now the former Grizzlies center is making an impact on the game's biggest stage.

After not playing a minute in the first two games of the NBA Finals series between the Celtics and Dallas Mavericks, Tillman stepped up in place of injured Boston center Kristaps Porzingis and gave the Celtics a boost. Tillman knocked down a corner 3-pointer, recorded two blocks and was plus-nine in 11 minutes.

Tillman's 3-pointer extended Boston's lead to 13 points in the third quarter. The Celtics bench erupted after the shot. Boston went on to win Game 3 106-99 and now lead the NBA Finals series 3-0.

“To hear the bench going crazy on our end, guys like Svi and Oshae, it was pretty awesome," Tillman said after Game 3. "Those are my guys. Those are my SRG guys. Each day we go to war with each other to try to better each other.”

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said that he turned to Tillman instead of other reserve center options because of Tillman's experience guarding the Dallas Mavericks and playing in a similar defensive scheme in Memphis. Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins would often use a scheme that allowed the bigs to switch onto guards.

Tillman's experience in Memphis is paying off in the NBA Finals.

"Defensively, he was special," Celtics center Al Horford said. ". . . These are the type of games people remember forever, the type of impact he had."

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Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DamichaelC

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Xavier Tillman Sr.: Celtics find NBA Finals Game 3 star off bench