Everything you need to know about the Celtics' 96-88 loss to the San Antonio Spurs with BSJ insight and analysis
IN A NUTSHELL
The Celtics fell behind by 24 points after a disastrous start to the game. They were missing everything and San Antonio was waltzing to the rim. The defense changed after that and clamped down on the Spurs and the C’s slowly chipped away at the lead until they took it back in the fourth quarter. They built a seven-point lead with 3:21 to go ... and never scored again. The Spurs closed the game on a 15-0 run, handing Boston a bad loss.
HEADLINES
Another slow start: Including the first quarter of this game where they were outscored 30-14, the Celtics now have the sixth-worst first-quarter offensive rating in the league. They’re great in the second and third quarter, with the 11th and sixth-best offense respectively. Then they’re next to last in the fourth. The inconsistency is killing this team.
The process of breaking habits is a long one: Ime Udoka talks about breaking people of bad habits a lot, and that’s just not going to be an instantaneous thing. Habits are built up over time, and Udoka has been on the job for a few months. This is going to be a much longer process than some people thought coming into the season.
TURNING POINT
Dejounte Murray took over after the Celtics went up 87-81, scoring eight points and making a steal as part of a 15-0 run to close the game.
SECOND GUESS
Murray went after Al Horford on switches late in the game and suddenly he was getting to the rim. The Celtics could have either subbed Horford out (he was having a bad night and Enes Kanter of all people was having a good one), or they could have switched up coverages to cover.
THREE UP
Marcus Smart: Smart is being used more like a point guard right now and it’s paying dividends. Smart’s shooting is still worse than usual, but he was 4-4 in the second half with no 3-point attempts with 7 assists. He was a big catalyst for the comeback.
Grant Williams: Grant was really good on both sides of the ball, and there’s a strong argument to be made for him to have been on the floor more down the stretch. He had hustle plays, strong finishes, and the go-ahead 3-pointer which finally erased all of San Antonio’s lead.
Enes Kanter: Maybe the drop coverage the Celtics play with Kanter was the answer to stopping the Spurs because once they brought Horford in and started switching, everything went south. Kanter’s defense was actually a positive for Boston.
TWO DOWN
Al Horford: Rough, rough night for the normally reliable Horford. He could barely make a shot and he was getting picked on defensively.
Dennis Schröder: Might be a coincidence but he’s been in a funk since going back to the bench. He missed several easy shots, finishing 3-14 on the night.
TWO SO/SO:
Jayson Tatum: Slow start and slow finish sandwiched around some real takeover basketball. So much of his game right now depends on whether his jump shot is falling. He did generally pass well.
Jaylen Brown: It felt like he was having a first half that would lead to a “Jaylen Brown is back” sort of take. Then that sort of went away in the second. I think the hamstring is still an issue.
TOP PLAY
OH MY GOODNESS TATUM! pic.twitter.com/G6OKfKRKUm
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) November 27, 2021
ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
At some point, something has to click, right?
This game followed a very familiar path. As I laid out earlier, the Celtics are a bad first-quarter team, good second-quarter team, great third-quarter team, and then one of worst fourth-quarter teams. This game was a microcosm of that.
And just like I said before, Udoka has a team full of guys who have habits that are tough to break.
“That's something that's not going to happen overnight,” Udoka said. “It’s something we want guys to grow in that area. And we want them to see how different it looks on film and in person when we do it the right way. It's quite evident on film when you see it, a tough shot or playing in a crowd, versus getting off or getting somebody a wide-open shot. So I mention it quite a bit, if guys are making the right plays and we’ll live with the result.”
There were a lot of the right plays in this game, actually. Certainly there is part of this game evaluation that is simply “it’s a make or miss league.” But the early and late execution is more than that.
There is something good within this team. The problem is the bad stuff is too overpowering.
“If you’re down 27, you come back you’re up seven like, shit, you’ve got to be fighting, you’ve got to be competing,” Tatum said. “We were trying to figure it out. We’re not perfect. Obviously, this is a game that you really want, especially if you give yourself a chance like that. But it’s frustrating, it’s tough.”
It’s very frustrating for everyone involved. The violent mood swings of this team are maybe the most frustrating for fans. They know exactly what to do, but they either stop doing it or it takes a while for them to start. In the meantime, the other team is feasting on mistakes.
“It’s a game of little things that add up, obviously,” Tatum said. “But people tend to overreact and it’s just a lot of little things that could’ve gone either way. And we got to do a better job of – we got the lead, we were up seven or eight – closing out games, making sure we get a good shot. We’ve got to come back and get a stop. And then we really gotta control the game. When you keep giving teams chances, in this league, anyone can make shots.”
Except, most of the time it seems, the Celtics.
