BOSTON — With Marcus Smart back on the TD Garden parquet for the first time since his seismic trade, the Celtics nearly completed a Tommy Point-worthy comeback Saturday night.

Boston erased a 12-point halftime deficit but couldn’t close out Smart’s Memphis Grizzlies, losing 127-121 to cap a grueling stretch of five games in seven nights.

Jrue Holiday led all Celtics scorers with 23 points on 26 shots — by far the most he’s taken in a Boston uniform — with Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard each scoring 22 and Kristaps Porzingis adding 19. Jayson Tatum nearly notched a triple-double (17 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists) but went just 1 for 10 from 3-point range.

Memphis received sublime performances from Ja Morant (32 points, nine assists, nine rebounds) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (27 points, nine rebounds), with Morant also throwing down a Dunk of the Year contender between Porzingis and Derrick White.

The Celtics will lament the nine free throws they missed in the loss, which dropped them to 19-5.

Six takeaways from the Garden:

1. Standing O for Smart

The Grizzlies are using Smart off the bench — this season is the first time since 2017-18 that he hasn’t started the majority of his games — so he didn’t check in until the 8:50 mark of the first quarter. When he did, he received a rousing ovation from the Garden crowd, which he acknowledged with a wave.

After that memorable introduction, it was a rather forgettable night for the former Defensive Player of the Year. Smart, who spent time guarding both Tatum and Porzingis, went 1 for 11 from the floor and 1 for 6 from 3 and was a team-worst minus-10 in the win.

2. Busy Holiday

Holiday, who arrived three months after Smart’s departure, isn’t a high-volume shooter and rarely paces Boston at that end of the floor. He entered Saturday averaging 9.7 field-goal attempts per game (sixth-most on the team) with a single-game season high of 14.

But the Grizzlies consistently left Holiday uncovered in the corner, so the veteran guard let it fly, as head coach Joe Mazzulla instructs his players to when they have open looks. Holiday put up 10 shots and eight 3-pointers in his first eight minutes, converting three threes and one tough layup through contact as part of an 11-point first quarter.

By halftime, Holiday had surpassed his season high for shot attempts and nearly matched his career high for 3-pointers (13, set back in 2019). He equaled that mark on the opening possession of the second half as Memphis continued to give him space to operate.

A bit more efficiency from the 34-year-old might have pushed Boston over the top. He finished 8 for 26 and 4 for 17 from 3.

3. Stars awaken after halftime

While Holiday piled up shot attempts, Boston’s usual offensive leaders struggled to score. Tatum, Porzingis and Brown combined for just 16 points in the first half, with Brown not attempting his first shot until the second quarter.

Tatum was 3 for 11 and 0 for 7 from 3 over the first two quarters. Porzingis was 1 for 6, and the Celtics trailed 66-54, their largest halftime deficit of the season.

That trio began to heat up after half. Porzingis went 3 for 4 to start the third quarter and sank a pair of threes off Tatum assists. Tatum scored eight points in the third, including a tough and-1 layup that cut the Grizzlies’ lead to six.

Brown remained quiet through the third, but he drilled a straightaway 3 a minute into the fourth quarter that tied the game at 94-94. That was part of an 11-2 Celtics run to open the fourth that put Boston ahead for the first time since the first quarter.

Later, after Memphis had regained a 109-103 advantage, Brown scored on three straight Celtics possessions. Porzingis followed with a 3, and Tatum drove for a layup that made it a one-point game. But a three-minute cold stretch late in the fourth foiled Boston’s comeback bid.

This is Tatum’s first career loss to Memphis, snapping a 16-0 streak.

4. Pritchard bounces back

Heck of a response by Boston’s Sixth Man of the Year front-runner. After being held scoreless on just three shots in Friday’s win over Milwaukee, Pritchard went 6 for 10 from beyond the arc to help pull the Celtics out of their second-half hole.

5. Hauser hurt

The Celtics lost a core rotation player in the second quarter when bench sharpshooter Sam Hauser exited the game with what the team called right adductor tightness. Hauser ranks seventh among Celtics players in minutes played this season, seeing action in 20 of Boston’s 24 games.

Mazzulla chose not to plug in another bench player (Jordan Walsh, Drew Peterson, etc.) to replace Hauser’s minutes. Hauser, Pritchard, Neemias Queta and Luke Kornet were the only Celtics reserves who saw action, with Hauser and Kornet both playing less than 10 minutes. All five Boston starters logged 30-plus.

6. Respite on the horizon

Fortunately for the Celtics, their schedule now becomes a whole lot less hectic. Because it failed to advance to the knockout rounds of the NBA Cup, which begin Tuesday, Boston will play just two games over the next 11 days, and both will be against inferior opponents.

The Celtics will have four days off before their home game against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, two days off before they visit the last-place Washington Wizards on Saturday and another four-day break before they return to TD Garden to face Chicago next Thursday.

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