With the 2 #2 seeds of their respective conferences on the parquet, TD Backyard had a playoff really feel with the Spurs taking the potential Finals preview 100-95 over the Celtics.
Within the first half, the Celtics performed their model of basketball: low turnovers with simply 5, scorching capturing from behind the arc (8-of-19) that included two absolute moonballs from Jaylen Brown and a pair from Luka Garza, and 7 factors off turnovers.
Towards Victor Wembanyama, Joe Mazzulla matched the large man’s minutes with Jordan Walsh. With Sam Hauser unavailable with proper hamstring tightness, Hugo Gonzalez changed him within the beginning lineup. It proved to be much less an extra demotion for the 6’6Walsh and somewhat a vote of confidence for him to defend 7’5 Frenchman. Wembanyama would end with simply 5 factors off 5 photographs and Boston up 5 by means of the primary two quarters.
Within the third quarter, Wemby fueled an 11-2 run to tie the sport up at 64 with the Spurs finally taking the lead early within the fourth. With San Antonio on the town, it marked the returns of fan favorites Luke Kornet (try the tribute video right here) and Kelly Olynyk. We would quickly be singing the praises of Baylor Scheierman. He’s been strong all 12 months in restricted minutes, however his ten factors (2-for-2 from 3), two steals, and strong protection could have been his finest sport thus far this season.
Ultimately, a closing double-big lineup of Kornet and Wembanyama stored the Celtics on the perimeter within the last minutes and after a win in opposition to the Raptors final night time, it simply by no means appeared like Boston bought their legs underneath them. Brown completed with 27 factors with an uncharacteristically inefficient night time, hitting simply eleven of his 28 photographs; he was lights out from three, however the normal mid-range murderer didn’t have his shot from 15-feet. And after double-digit free throw makes an attempt in opposition to Toronto and Denver, Brown didn’t have a single journey to the road in opposition to the aggressive Spurs.
Derrick White led the Celtics in scoring with 29 factors. Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox each had 21.
The Celtics break up their four-game homestand 2-2. They’ll head out for six-of-seven video games on the highway in Indiana, Miami, Atlanta, Detroit, and Chicago because the league heads in direction of the February fifth commerce deadline.
