BSJ Game Report: Celtics 117, Spurs 98 - C's cruise to 20th straight home win of the season

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Spurs, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 15 first-quarter points and Boston built an early five-point lead. That lead ballooned to 25 thanks to a dominant second where they shot 8-9 from 3 while San Antonio was 1-9. The lead got to 30 early in the third and Boston completely took their foot off the gas, losing the third by nine. They got back into the fast lane thanks to the bench, pushed the lead back out to 25 early in the fourth, and finished it off from there. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Throw another win into the pile: I wish I had something more exciting for you here, but this just felt like a standard win. They shot the lights out in the first half, they got lazy in the second (and the shooting corrected itself), but they never really were in danger of giving up the lead to a bad team. 

- Hot Holiday: Jrue Holiday shot 6-7 from deep and is now 10 for his last 13. He’s up to 42% shooting for the season after a slow start from 3. 

“I feel pretty good. I’ve been getting a lot of open shots, being in the places I’m supposed to be in,” Holiday said after the game. “And I’ve been knocking down shots, playing with confidence and I feel like my coaches and teammates give me that. So any chance I get to go out there and be aggressive offensively, I do it.”

- Jordan Walsh debut: He was finally able to get a few minutes of playing time, grabbing four rebounds, but badly missing the one shot he took. 

“I'm never going to forget that,” Walsh said. “Wish I would've made the shot, though. But yeah, it was definitely a good feeling being out there."

The crowd was ready to explode for him if he’d made a shot. Every time he touched the ball it’s like someone turned up the volume in the building. 

TURNING POINT 

Boston’s 40-20 second quarter was an impressive shooting display where they cooked the Spurs at every turn and held them to 1-9 shooting from 3. Yeah, they let up early in the third, and yes it did get slightly uncomfortable for a moment, but the Spurs never truly threatened after that. 

THINGS I LIKED

- First-half focus: No trap game here for Boston. They came out with the right intentions and they generated some really good looks to get going from 3. They turned that into 70% shooting from 3-point land at one point. They also had a pretty dominant stretch on the other end. 

“We had three 25-point quarters again (defensively),” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “I think there were about 20 to 25 possessions of elite defense.” 

- Jaylen Brown: He finished with 21 points on 50% shooting to go along with seven rebounds and a team-high five assists. 

- Jrue Holiday: His biggest scoring performances have come with at least one starter missing. Holiday says he’s not changing his mindset to become more of a scorer in those situations, it’s just happening naturally.

“The flow is a little different,” he said. “Having (Kristaps Porzingis) out there and knowing he’s such a threat and getting mismatches and advantages on him is something that we want. Same thing with JB and JT. And then having (Derrick) White out, I think this game I had to be a little bit more aggressive. But for the most part I think I just tried to find my spots to be aggressive.”

- Bench energy: As much as Tatum and Brown handled the scoring load (Tatum finished with a team-high 24), it was the bench’s energy in the second quarter that really helped push the pace. Payton Pritchard hit a couple of 3-pointers, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta came in and played great on both ends, and the Celtics whipped off a +20 quarter. Then when the stars were clearly loafing in the second half, it was that bench group that flipped the switch to never let the game get ou of hand. 

This play by Queta was indicative of what they brought. 

"I just like seeing Neemi be physical, and the presence that he played with on both ends of the floor," Mazzulla said. "So he's one of those kids that doesn't know how good he can be. He hasn't been in the league a long time. He’s only played like 300 minutes in the NBA, and so he started to see when he plays with a certain presence, we’re a different basketball team and I thought he did that tonight."

It helped that they were also in during stretches when Victor Wembanyama (27 points on 10-19 fg) was on the bench. If it wasn't for him, this game would have gotten out of hand much earlier.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- The third quarter: “I knew the third quarter was going to happen,” Mazzulla said. “You shoot 68 percent from 3, the other team shoots 20, there's bound to be a regression to the mean a little bit, and so you're naturally going to see a 28-to-32 point quarter. So you kind of know that's coming.”

Fair enough, but it was also very clear that Boston, especially Tatum and Brown, were pretty much done trying once the lead got to 30. They were walking the ball up the floor, just barely getting it over halfcourt at the eight second count, and letting the clock wind way down before starting any offense. 

I’ll get more into this in a bit.  

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Ladies and Gentlemen, the captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. So if you can all please return to your seats and prepare to be annoyed by some minor turbulence. 

Yep, it’s that time of year. 

“Sometimes during this time, mid-January to All-Star break, it can get a little lethargic and get a little slow,” Holiday said. “(You can) feel like games are just on top of each other, especially with the travel.”

There's no getting around it. The Celtics have entered the muddy part of the schedule, something I’ve been writing about a lot here. As much as we’d all like to see it change, it’s clearly not going to. 

“This is the part of the regular season where you’ve got to embrace because you get complacent, and you can get mentally checked out,” Brown said. “But we’re trying to make sure that we’re all engaged. This is where you build your endurance for long playoff drives. So this is the part of the regular season I think is the most important going into All-Star break, et cetera. Teams start to count the days, and we’re going to just keep stacking our wins. We’ve got to lock in for this last 15-game stretch or whatever.”

It’s actually 14 games after tonight, and I’m counting tonight as a success. They have certainly had better, more complete wins this season over inferior opponents, but keeping the lead manageable in this game was pretty important. Like Mazzulla said earlier, everyone knew it was going to happen, but the question is how do they get out of the rut. 

“The trick is, when it does happen, quickly get yourself out of it,” Mazzulla said. “So if we were to follow up the third quarter with another fourth quarter, that's a problem. You know what I mean? But for us to have the third quarter and then come back and have a 20-point (defensive) quarter, that to me is the trick. Don't get caught up in trying to be perfect. Just constantly have an awareness of, ‘Are we playing the way we should be playing or are we not? How quickly do we get back to that?’”

I understand I might be harping on this concept a bit, but I think it’s important for us to acknowledge and embrace the concept as well. The more we’re aware of it, the more we can roll with the punches like the team does. 

It’s like our resolutions to eat better and drink less. We can all have our great stretches but there are some days, maybe when you’re, oh, let’s just pull a hypothetical out of thin air … watching a legendary coach finish his career by losing a field goal battle to a historical laughing stock in the middle of crap weather and then it gets dark half an hour after the game … and you’re gonna say screw it, order some pizza, and crack a couple of brews while you wait for it to be delivered. 

Don’t beat yourself up because that's when you risk spiraling. Embrace it, own it, and pull out of it. Grab a piece of celery with some peanut butter. Put some raisins on it because you’re a fun person. And if you can, substitute Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta for your two buddies who convinced you to order the pizza. 

Where was I? 

Oh yeah, Boston is 20-0 at home and if the worst thing that happens over the next 14 games is a 30 point lead drops no lower than 12, then they're going to be just fine. 

Next up: The Celtics get another home game when they face the Denver Nuggets Friday night