BSJ Game Report: Celtics 137, Spurs 93 - Celtics explode in second half behind Brown's 41

Everything you need to know about the Celtics rout of the San Antonio Spurs, with BSJ insight and analysis. 

IN A NUTSHELL

Jaylen Brown came out blistering hot, scoring 15 points in the first quarter but the C’s defense wasn’t up to par and the Spurs came out of the quarter with the lead. Boston turned up the defense in the second, and Brown continued his roll, buoyed by Malcom Brogdon distributing and the C’s picking up the pace to take an 11-point halftime lead. The lead grew to 18 once Al Horford started making 3-pointers in the third quarter, it got past 20 when Brown got to the rim at the end of the quarter, and it got to 30 with a 13-2 run to start the fourth. It hit 40 in garbage time.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Monster second half: The Celtics out-scored the Spurs 69-35 after the half. They actually only led by 6 at one point in the third, and then they found a different gear. 

“We didn't foul, we didn't give up transition, we didn't give up second chance,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “So when you're playing teams and you're winning like that throughout the game, those three things are what spurs runs, what spurs what changes momentum, and what gives teams opportunities.”

- Jaylen Brown’s big night: He’s making a strong All-NBA case with his post-All-Star performance. I’ll get into it more later, but I liked that the team gave him this night to shine with Tatum out and Mazzulla let him get to his 41. After a lot of discussion about what he said in a pair of interviews, giving him this chance to shine on the court.

- They're back: On one hand, these were wins over the Kings playing their fifth game in seven nights, the Pacers, and the Spurs. On the other, it’s three straight wins by 23 points or more, something they haven't done since 1963. One of the top things we all complain about is how they play down to their competition and championship teams don’t do that. Well, they stopped doing that. These were three games mostly played the right way. This is what we’ve been looking for. 

TURNING POINT

The Spurs pulled within 6 with 9:15 left in the third quarter, but Al Horford got a blocked shot and a pair of 3-pointers to trigger Boston’s massive turnaround. It went from 72-66 to 96-77 by the end of the quarter, a nice 24-11 run to do something Boston has struggled with since the break … close quarters strong. 

“I thought Al did a tremendous job of making plays in the paint, protecting us, and then he hit those two 3s and then we were able to just settle in,” Mazzulla said. “I thought what Al did at the beginning of that third quarter was big for us.”

FOUR UP

Jaylen Brown: He shot 2-10 from deep and still put up 41 points because he was 15/17 in the paint and 13/15 in the restricted area. He’s starting to really put together a nice portfolio of moves that he can pull out as he tries to get to the rim. 

“I just think he's always had the ability to score, but now he has the ability to break defenses down, to understand how the defense is guarding him, to anticipate where the help is coming from and then to make the right play,” Mazzulla said. “To me, his scoring is obviously huge for us, but his decision-making and his reads has gotten a lot better. It's a credit to him because he works at it every single day.”

He finished shooting 18-29 from the field and he also grabbed 13 rebounds, which is not normally his strong suit. Wing rebounding was huge for the Celtics in holding the Spurs to just 3 offensive rebounds. 

Malcolm Brogdon: 20 points and 9 assists off the bench. He scored 14 in the second as the Celtics put together a pair of big runs to turn a 2-point deficit into a 10-point lead. He also dished out 6 of his 9 assists in the first half. 

Derrick White: He had 19 points in the game, but 9 of those came on 3 consecutive 3-pointers  to open the fourth quarter and smash any hopes the Spurs had. Horford’s plays were the turning point that changed the game, and White’s were the final nails in the coffin. 

Robert Williams: He just changes the defense. He’s such a difference-maker when he gets in the game. He also had an actual post move to score down low, which was nice to see. It wasn’t much, but he freed up some space and got the shot up, which is something he has shied away from.

ZERO DOWN

That's right, for the third straight game we have no truly down performances in this game. No one was any worse than a +11 and most guys shot fine. The guys who didn’t were just one made shot away from good numbers. The first-quarter defense was not good, so this is an appropriate place to bring that up, but the Celtics settled down after that. Marcus Smart got tossed for getting two techs, but he had a decent game and by then the game was well in hand and I think the refs were a little quick with the second one. 

TOP PLAYS 

too strong to stop 😤 pic.twitter.com/kUyE1L69Fx

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 26, 2023

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Sitting Jayson Tatum was smart 

I’m a big fan of resting a star in a potential letdown game. Instead of a player on the floor maybe going through the motions, they gave the ball to Brown -- who has been rolling -- and gave him a chance to be the featured player. It also gave more guys off the bench a little more opportunity to come with good energy. 

Getting the team to feel like it had to step up to make up for missing a key player is a slick way to keep them focused. The Celtics followed Brown’s lead and, aside from a tough first quarter defensively, brought the appropriate energy for the game. 

- The Celtics know they probably screwed up the top seed

Brogdon is the only guy who seems willing to cop to seeding being important. 

“When Milwaukee took the No. 1 seed from us after the break, it was sort of a shock to us that we had dropped because we had created some separation between us and them,” he said. “That's something we want, we want the No. 1 seed. I think this team understands the importance of having homecourt advantage in the playoffs so that's something we are going after.”

The Celtics need the Bucks to lose twice: once to them on Thursday night, and then any other time. Boston would have to be perfect in that scenario to close out the season, but it’s doable. 

“Obviously seeding is important, but how you’re playing is more important,” Jaylen Brown said. “Even though we were the best team in the league for a large majority of the season in the stretches of the season when we were winning games because we were better than teams, but we weren’t playing the way we were capable of. We kind of got comfortable at different moments and would pull games out. Even if we won, everybody would be happy but, in reality, it shouldn’t have even been close. So now, with us, in a little bit of a hunt again, everybody kind of refocuses and plays the way we need to play.”

Translation: Everyone knows they blew it and now they're trying to make up for it. 

Hey, maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Maybe they’ll get the message that when they played a certain way, the got the top seed, they lost it when they stopped playing that way, and they got it back by returning to that style. 

That's the hope, anyway. The message is so obvious that everyone can see it. You don’t need to be an NBA guru to get what’s happening. They know they might have blown it, and they know why. That should be enough to keep this roll going. 

Next up: The Celtics begin a quick two game trip in Washington Tuesday night.