Coming off a gritty win over the Los Angeles Lakers, the Spurs traveled to Boston to face the Celtics. Devin Vassell would stay out with an adductor damage. Identical to the Lakers sport, this sport turned out to be a brick competitors combined in with stable protection. Each groups shot 41% and beneath from the sector, and the Spurs shot 23% from three. After trailing by 5 at halftime, the Spurs’ deficit elevated to 9. Nevertheless, due to a mini-run from Victor Wembanyama, the deficit was rapidly minimize. De’Aaron Fox nailed a stepback jumper to beat the third quarter buzzer, and the Spurs entered the fourth trailing by two. Due to the Spurs’ lockdown protection, the Celtics managed to drop solely 20 factors in every of the third and fourth quarters. Keldon Johnson splashed a go-ahead three with 2:15 remaining, solely to be met with a Jaylen Brown layup on the opposite finish. With 1:33 remaining, Wemby went into clutch mode. He drained a fadeaway jumper to offer the Spurs the lead, after which others stepped up in between. With beneath a minute remaining, Brown had secured a rebound and was dribbling previous mid-court when Fox picked his pocket. Julian Champagnie completed beneath the basket and made the Celtics use a timeout with the Spurs up by 4. After two Derrick White free throws, the Spurs had been solely up by two and referred to as upon Wemby as soon as once more, and as soon as once more, he delivered. He drained one other clutch jumper to assist seal the Spurs’ win, 100-95.
Victor Wembanyama dropped 21 factors, six rebounds, three blocks, and a dime off the bench. Because of the continued minutes restriction, Wemby continues to be coming off the bench. He struggled to get going early, however made up for it with some key spotlight performs. Most of all, he scored 16 of his 21 factors within the second half. It appears Mitch Johnson has discovered his lesson from benching him in crunch time towards the Memphis Grizzlies, as a result of Wemby has now performed within the final three minutes of each the Lakers and Celtics video games. With out him, it’s exhausting to see how the Spurs win this sport. Vic gave shades of his clutch heroics towards the Chicago Bulls.
POSTER ALERT! Vic posterizes Hugo Gonzalez whereas reducing to the paint!
Nothing however internet! Wemby catches and fades away on Jordan Walsh for the silky jumper!
TWO-WAY PLAYER! Vic stays affected person on transition protection and rejects Brown. Then, he finishes on the opposite finish with a one-handed slam!
CLUTCH WEMBY! Wemby nails the primary clutch jumper over Neemias Queta to offer the Spurs a two-point lead, after which nails one other jumper over Baylor Scheierman to place the sport away!
De’Aaron Fox dropped 21 factors (9-16 FG), 9 rebounds, six assists, and a steal. By way of effectivity, this was a much-needed bounce-back sport for D-Fox. That is the D-Fox followers are accustomed to seeing: making defenders look foolish, draining buckets from in every single place on the courtroom, and dishing it out with ease. He may pickpocket ball-handlers, together with celebrity gamers, in crunch-time. The pickpocket on Brown was an enormous momentum shift, and it led to the victory.
D3’AARON FOX! D-Fox steps into the open three early within the first quarter!
Early within the third, D-Fox reached an enormous milestone of scoring his 12,000th level!
Right here’s the Twitter/X model of his highlights, together with his star protection late within the fourth!
Keldon Johnson dropped a double-double off the bench: 18 factors and 10 rebounds to go together with a dime and a steal. Spurs followers all say in unison, “KJ FOR 6MOTY!” He’s actually the engine that drives the workforce’s aggressive spirit and creates offense when the workforce goes chilly. Moreover the hustle performs, he additionally by no means offers up on the glass. His largest play of the sport was his go-ahead three with beneath two minutes left within the sport!
Julian Champagnie dropped a double-double: 12 factors and 13 rebounds to go together with three assists and a block. Although he struggled from three, Julian made his impression within the paint and on the glass. Three of his rebounds had been offensive, which resulted in second-chance factors. His largest play of the sport got here with beneath fifteen seconds left: He swatted Derrick White’s three-point try to clinch the sport for the silver and black!
Stephon Fortress dropped 9 factors, 5 assists, two rebounds, and a steal. Steph struggled towards this fierce Celtic protection, taking pictures three of 16 from the sector. The Celtics had been leaving him open on the three-point line, and Steph couldn’t make them pay. Nonetheless, Steph made his impression on the defensive finish. Offering stable on-ball protection and being artful within the lanes. He’ll look to have a bounce-back sport towards Minnesota.
AND-ONE! Steph catches the dump-off move from Fox within the paint and someway finishes by way of the contact for the and-one end!
PICKED HIS POCKET! Steph locks down Brown, swipes the ball, and finishes it on the opposite finish with a jam!
This was an amazing win for the blokes in silver and black! Regardless of one other off-shooting evening, the workforce locked in defensively within the second half to restrict a playoff workforce to beneath 100 factors once more. If the clutch-time plan is to depart the ball in Wemby’s fingers down the stretch, it appears seemingly that it’s going to assist safe clutch-time wins. Someway, this workforce must get again to the new perimeter taking pictures it had early within the season if it desires to proceed to stack up wins. A fast turnaround awaits in Minnesota.
Lastly, listed here are the total sport highlights.
The Spurs have one other SEGABABA towards the Minnesota Timberwolves at 6:00 P.M. (CST) on FDSN-SW.
