Final: Spurs 99, Celtics 97 - Celtics offense stalls, Brown misses potential game-tying layup

Game 38
Boston Celtics (18-19, 11-7 Home, 10th East) vs. San Antonio Spurs (14-22, 7-12 Road, T-11th West)
TD Garden
7:30 PM - NBC Sports Boston

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Robert Williams, Al Horford

San Antonio: DeJounte Murray, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, Jakob Poeltl, Derrick White

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Payton Pritchard is now the only Celtic in Health and Safety Protocols.

- Brodric Thomas is out with low back pain. 

- Robert Williams is available after a right toe strain.

“The toe’s feeling good. Feeling great at practice, so, ready to go out there and play,” he said after the team’s shootaround today. The injury happened in the first quarter against Phoenix, so he played through it on his way to a triple double. 

“My pain tolerance is getting high. I feel like every player needs that,” he said. “It's just, like I said, a sense of not wanting to be away from the game, having our full roster back, I'm just ready to experience the energy, honestly. Just go out there and smile and play, go play free with the guys.”

- Doug McDermott and Lonnie Walker IV are in Health and Safety Protocols for San Antonio

- Devontae Cacok is return to competition conditioning and is out. Zach Collins is also out with a stress fracture in his left ankle.

- The Spurs are on the back end of a back-to-back. 

- Boston is favored by 7.5

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

This is Gregg Popovich’s 2,000th regular season game. He’s been around, and he has a lot of valuable experience that he can share with his former assistants who have moved on. 

Udoka won’t be one of them, though. 

“I always was there when the other coaches were blowing him up, whether it was (Mike Budenholzer), Brett (Brown), whoever moved on,” Udoka said. “I said I wasn’t going to be that guy. So we don’t talk as much until we’ve crossed paths.”

This is the second time these two are facing off, and Udoka says he tried to treat the first time around as normally as possible. 

“I looked down the sideline, didn’t think anything different than any other game against another coach,” he said. “Obviously, we got a chance to talk before and after, got dinner with him after the game.”

The Spurs were in Toronto last night and Boston heads to New York tonight for their back-to-back, so there will be no such meeting now. 

“Our relationship obviously goes way, way, way back and it's always good to catch up with him and then get a chance to play against him. It’s an honor,” Udoka said. “It's something I did think about at some point in my career as his assistant was I’d like to get to be a head coach and coach against him one day. And so we’ve done that, and it's kind of behind us.”

“He has 10 guys in the league that he's playing against every other night. So it's nothing new to him. But for me, at some point, you think about it, I think probably in the future, you'll look back and realize our relationship and getting the chance to coach against him and the honor it was.”

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Wary Spurs legs: They got blown out by Toronto last night. So not only is it a back-to-back, it’s one after which teams have to go through customs and all the international COVID steps so it’s just a bit more annoying. This is a chance to pounce on them early. 

2. Celtics rust: This is the ninth time the Celtics are trotting out their actual, preferred starting lineup. The one thing that can cost the C’s that early opportunity to build a lead is some rust and missed timing. The extra day of practice will certainly help. 

3. Rebound and Run!: The Spurs are not good from deep, so there will be long rebounds aplenty for them to corral and get out into transition. The return of Tatum gives Boston their highest-volume rebounder back, so he can rip the ball and go and find someone up ahead for a transition opportunity.

GAME THREAD

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