The Celtics traded blows with one of many prime groups within the NBA on Saturday evening. However in the long run, they might not include the distinctive skills of Victor Wembanyama.
San Antonio’s 7-foot-4 celebrity scored 16 of his 21 factors within the second half to steer the Spurs to a 100-95 win at TD Backyard.
“Clearly, he’s a particular expertise,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla stated.
Boston threw a number of totally different defenders at Wembanyama and gave large workloads to its prime stars. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White each set season highs for minutes performed (43 and 42, respectively) on the second evening of a back-to-back.
White led all scorers with 29 factors on 11-of-26 taking pictures (plus 9 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks), and Brown completed with 27-8-7 on 11-of-28. However the Celtics’ offense struggled after halftime with consecutive 20-point quarters, and Brown dedicated 5 turnovers, together with one particularly pricey giveaway with 47 seconds remaining with Boston trailing by two.
Brown additionally believed he and his crew didn’t obtain a good whistle within the loss. The Celtics tried simply 4 free throws to the Spurs’ 20, prompting Brown to blast Curtis Blair’s officiating crew in a profane postgame rant.
“I’ll settle for the effective at this level,” he stated. “I assumed it was some (BS) tonight. They’re a great defensive crew, however they ain’t that rattling good. I hope any individual can simply pull up the clips, as a result of it’s the identical (expletive) each time we play a great crew. It’s like they refuse to make a name, then they name contact fouls on the opposite finish, and that’s simply extraordinarily irritating, bro. … I’ll take the (expletive) effective. Curtis and all them dudes had been horrible tonight.”
The Celtics got here into the sport gentle on wing depth after ruling out Josh Minott (ankle sprain) and Sam Hauser (hamstring tightness). Minott fell out of the rotation earlier than his damage, however Hauser had began the earlier 4 video games and was coming off one among his higher outings of the season (19 factors, 5-for-7 from three vs. Toronto).
To fill Hauser’s spot, Mazzulla inserted rookie Hugo Gonzalez into the highest unit for the primary time since Oct. 26. Why Gonzalez over Jordan Walsh, who began 20 straight video games earlier than giving solution to Hauser final weekend? Matchups.
Mazzulla needed to deploy the longer Walsh in opposition to Wembanyama, who’s come off the bench for San Antonio since getting back from a latest knee damage. (Ex-Celtic Luke Kornet began in opposition to his former crew and obtained a tribute video in the course of the first quarter.) When Wembanyama checked in for the primary time, Walsh changed Gonzalez and drew the first task of guarding the towering Spurs star.
He held up nicely at first. Wembanyama tried only one shot in his first seven-minute shift, and that was blocked by Luka Garza.
On the different finish, Brown hit two high-arcing first-quarter 3-pointers over Wembanyama’s outstretched arms. Garza additionally made two threes within the opening interval, together with one in opposition to Wembanyama.
Gonzalez additionally had his possibilities to protect San Antonio’s unicorn massive man — although he may want he hadn’t. After Walsh surrendered an offensive rebound and was referred to as to the bench, Gonzalez picked up Wembanyama. Lower than a minute later, Wembanyama put him on a poster with a robust driving dunk.
He totaled simply 5 factors throughout a low-scoring first half, nonetheless. The Celtics led 55-50 at halftime, thanks largely to the manufacturing of Brown and White. Every scored 17 within the first half, going 7-for-12 and 7-for-13 from the sector, respectively.
However the Celtics couldn’t bottle up Wembanyama without end. He started to claim himself within the third quarter, scoring 9 straight Spurs factors and blocking photographs by Brown and Anfernee Simons. After Wembanyama transformed an and-one fast-break lob from Stephon Fort, Mazzulla lifted Walsh and handed off that matchup to Baylor Scheierman.
Scheierman, who was coming off his first DNP-CD since Nov. 11, has used hustle performs like drawn expenses and deflections to carve out a tenuous foothold in Boston’s rotation. Late within the third quarter, he intercepted a Keldon Johnson go and raced for a transition dunk, then poked the ball away from Kornet to power one other Spurs turnover.
“The vast majority of the sport, they stored the 5-on-5, after which within the second half, they went to extra cross-matching,” Mazzulla stated. “So we simply went to totally different lineups from there. I assumed Jordan did an incredible job on Wembanyama. As soon as they went to their cross-matches, we now have to have the ability to house the ground and make the 2-on-1 reads. I assumed Baylor did a great job of it.”
Brown drilled two 3-pointers within the ultimate two minutes of the third, together with a stepback over 2025 Rookie of the 12 months in Fort. However De’Aaron Fox closed the quarter with 4 straight factors to chop Boston’s result in 75-73, and Julian Champagnie opened the fourth with a go-ahead nook three in entrance of the Celtics’ bench. Wembanyama then blocked a Brown layup and dunked on the different finish as a part of a 9-0 Spurs run.
The Celtics responded with threes by White, Scheierman and Simons to tug again forward. One other Scheierman triple and a White layup — previous a visibly fatigued Wembanyama — made it 89-84 and triggered a San Antonio timeout with 5:23 remaining. Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson sat Wembanyama for a spell, then reinserted him with 2:50 to go, this time pairing him with Kornet in a double-big lineup for the primary time.
The Spurs outscored the Celtics 12-4 from that time ahead, with Wembanyama placing San Antonio forward after which icing the sport with a pair of midrange makes. Boston had an opportunity to tie or take the lead within the ultimate minute, however Brown fumbled the ball away, resulting in a Champagnie layup that made it 97-93.
Wembanyama hit his ultimate jumper — over a completely prolonged Scheierman — on the following Spurs possession.
“You attempt to make it onerous for him, however on the finish of the day, he’s 7-7,” Scheierman acknowledged. “So he’s going to shoot over you. There’s probably not something you are able to do, so that you simply attempt to strain him, make him uncomfortable and pray he misses.”
After a 2-2 homestand, the 24-14 Celtics will hit the highway for the following 4 video games, starting with a Monday evening assembly with the Indiana Pacers.
