After a year of more highs and lows for the Boston Celtics organisation, Boston headed to San Antonio to face the Spurs in the Lone Star State. San Antonio’s superstar No.1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama was available and looked to showcase his talent against the best of the best. On the flip side, the Celtics had three of their six main guys back from injury, as Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis re-joined the starting line-up and veteran big man Al Horford retook his spot on the bench. Derrick White had a successful return to San Antonio for the first time, after spending his first five years in the NBA with the franchise.
Once again, the fastest starters in the NBA jumped out to a quick start and easily put 30 points on the board in the first quarter, which earnt them a 30-22 lead. Jaylen Brown had his typical rapid start with eight early points, supported by Derrick White who hit a pair of threes and received a warm welcome from the San Antonio faithful.
Boston’s sharp defensive start however did not continue as San Antonio started to find some offensive rhythm. The Spurs looked at their best with young Wembanyama on the floor, he had an excellent outing with 21 points and 7 rebounds and showed off his impressive shooting from range (3/8 from beyond the arc). San Antonio did a good job of working down the Boston lead and trailed by just four with 5:33 to go till half time. But the Spurs run was short lived, and Boston bounced right back ending the quarter with a 65-53 lead.
It was cruise control for the Celtics in the second half, as they routed the Spurs in the third quarter – with 40 points in the period – the two Jays contributed 23 points of those 40 and completely dominated the floor. For the Spurs, they were just too dependent on the performance of Wembanyama and guard Devin Vassell (who had 22 points) which in the end was their downfall.
After a quick run to extend the lead beyond 30, Boston cleared the bench and Tatum and Porzingis finished with a combined 64 points (30 for Tatum and 34 for Porzingis). The Celtics went on to win astoundingly, as the game finished in a 134-101 win for Boston.
San Antonio’s head coach Gregg Popovich had this to say about the Celtics so far this season via ESPN: “Joe does a great job with them. They’ve got great talent, obviously, All-Star talent; and they’ve got grit. They’ve got the execution and getting better all the time.”. Victor Wembanyama also commented on the Celtics: “I can feel that compared to the past years, they have something extra this year,”. The Celtics head to Oklahoma to face the Thunder on Tuesday at the Paycom Center to kickstart 2024.
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