The Boston Celtics lost their first game of the preseason to the New York Knicks on Monday night, 107-114, in a game that Boston sat their top-six players.

It was a rough shooting night from 3-point range for the Celtics, finishing 12-of-48 (25 percent) from deep. Despite the loss, there are some positive takeaways from this game with the biggest one being Dalano Banton.

Banton went from playing 13-minutes in the first preseason game against the 76ers to starting against the Knicks the very next day and logged 30-minutes.

He finished the game scoring 20-points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field (42.1 percent), went 1-of-5 from behind the arc, and added two rebounds and two assists.

Although he’s listed as a guard, Banton is 6-foot-7 and showed last night that he’s versatile enough to realistically play both the guard and wing positions, which was to be expected as he joined a team with a guard position that’s already solidified.

What I enjoyed most about Banton’s game was how methodical he is with the ball. When he drives, he knows how to create a gap between the defender to allow himself the space needed to get to the rim, which he does at a pretty high level.

Banton also has a midrange game and knows where his spots are on the court, which gives him the confidence and comfort to pull-up from at any time.

He struggles as a 3-point shooter but that’s something the team specializes in perfecting, so there shouldn’t be too much concern there.

It’s worth mentioning that Banton’s an efficient 2-point shooter, averaging 47.8 percent shooting inside the arc.

The Celtics signed Banton at the beginning of free agency, agreeing to a partially guaranteed contract worth $2,019,706.

If he’s on the roster on opening night, Banton will earn $1,009,853 and his deal will become fully guaranteed on Jan. 10.

It’s fair to say that one preseason game is a small sample size to work with, but you have to visualize the bigger picture of this team and Banton seems to be part of it.

There’s definitely a depth role for Banton in Boston.

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