BSJ Game Report: Spurs 100, Celtics 95 - Too much Wembanyama in second half

Everything you need to know about the Celtics' loss to the Spurs, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

Jaylen Brown’s 12 points helped give Boston an early nine-point lead over the cold-shooting Spurs. That lead settled at five heading into the second quarter, and after the teams traded runs, that's where it was at halftime. Victor Wembanyama finally got going to cut a few points off Boston’s lead heading into the fourth, and a late Spurs run put the game away. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Tough finish: Maybe they ran out of gas, or maybe there was just too much Wembanyama and Keldon Johnson down the stretch, but the Celtics shot 3-10 over the final 5:23, 0-6 from 3, and were out-scored 16-8. 

- Free throw discrepancy: The Spurs shot 20 free throws while the Celtics shot four. I'm the last person to put blame for losses on the officials because, invariably, you can find other things that could have been done better. At the same time, four free throw attempts are out of whack for how the Celtics were playing. 

- Throwing everything at Wemby: Hugo Gonzalez started in this game because Victor Wembanyama was coming off the bench and Joe Mazzulla wanted to match Jordan Walsh’s minutes with Wemby’s. Baylor Scheierman also got a turn on Wembanyama, as did Gonzalez, as the Celtics 

TURNING POINT 

The Celtics led 89-84 when the Spurs took a timeout with 5:23 left to play. San Antonio went on a 13-4 run after that to take a four-point lead with :41 on the clock. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Jaylen Brown & Derrick White in the first half: They were both incredible in the first half. Brown was 7-12 from the field, White was 7-13, they’d both made three 3-pointers, and they went into halftime with 17 points each. They cooled off in the second half, combining to shoot 8-29 and 4-16 from 3. 

- Baylor Scheierman: He didn’t expect to end up guarding Wembanyama as much as he did, but there he was, getting physical with Wemby and forcing him into tough fadeaways. Of course, Wemby hit those shots, but there's nothing you can do about that. He finished with 10 points, two rebounds, and two steals, one of which led to this play:

- Neemias Queta: He had 13 rebounds, four of them offensive, and two blocked shots.  

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Jaylen Brown getting too caught up in attacking Wembanyama: I think Brown got a little too fixated on trying to attack that matchup and it took away from what was otherwise a good game from him. He got blocked a couple of times, and those turn into easy points almost all the time.

- The lack of free throws: A couple of things here… 

First, teams don’t tend to attack Wembanyama and they rely more on jumpers, so there are naturally fewer against him. Second, the Celtics take the fewest free throws in the league, so that's a factor. 

But 20 FTA to FOUR? I know there's no rule that says the free-throw attempts should be equal, but I do think there's some expectation that 13 shots in the restricted area and another 23 in the paint non-restricted area would yield more than two shooting fouls. 

Jaylen Brown had a lot to say about this. That will come separately.

- Jordan Walsh: He was actually doing a good job on Wembanyama, and then he blew a couple of rebounds and Joe Mazzulla sat him for the rest of the first half. Gonzalez got a crack at the job and didn’t fare well, and that gave the Spurs some life. Walsh seemed a little less effective in the second half. 

- Payton Pritchard: Tough night for him, scoring just four points on 2-9 shooting (0-3 3pt). 

- Anfernee Simons: I’m glad I got the praise out for him last night because this was a stinker. He finished with five points on 2-8 shooting.  

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- The plan for Wembanyama was a good one. 

I liked that Mazzulla went with Gonzalez to start so he could bring Walsh in to contend with Wembanyama. I liked that Walsh was the Wemby guy because he has good length and he can be disruptive poking at the ball. I think Wembanyama was uncomfortable early in the game. 

But the inability to rebound was a killer. San Antonio was +11 in second-chance points. So Walsh giving up a couple of boards helped erase a lot of the good they were doing. 

I agree with Mazzulla’s decision to pull him after the rebounding issue, but going up against Gonzalez gave Wemby life and he helped put Boston away in the second half. 

We’ve seen it a million times with stars like Wembanyama. Once one thing starts working, the rest tends to follow. The shots he hit to close Boston out were tough. 

But I liked how Boston attacked him. Walsh and Scheierman did well against the size and unique abilities. It’s something to note for the next time they face off in March.

Next Up: The Celtics begin another road trip in Indiana Monday night.