The Boston Celtics started their home rematch with the San Antonio Spurs like a team in need of a few days off.
Boston didn’t even make its first field goal until nearly three minutes into the contest, a Gordon Hayward trey coming off of a Kemba Walker assist.
The next field goal for the Celtics took five minutes of game time to go in.
Oddly enough, it was a jumper nearly from the 3-point line from center Enes Kanter, which should tell you everything you need to know about how off-kilter the team started the game, already in a 19-point deficit by the time they’d scored multiple buckets.
Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum would almost single-handedly carry Boston for the remainder of the first frame, and Jaylen Brown the second, but the Celtics didn’t turn up the defensive intensity nor attack until the penultimate frame.
Cutting the lead to nine with a Tatum layup after stealing the ball from DeMar DeRozan steal, an amped-up Boston looked poised to make a run at San Antonio before UConn product Walker got himself ejected for protesting a blown call.
1. Kemba gets laid out on a hard screen
2. Kemba gets ejected
3. Celtics fan throws a beer at the Spurs bench— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) January 9, 2020
The crowd nearly lost it after the Bronx native was leveled by LaMarcus Aldridge only to see Walker ejected for bothering to complain, and stayed angry and engaged for some time.
The momentum tilted back towards San Antonio for much of the rest of the third, the Spurs extending their lead to 21 points late in the quarter. The Celtics tried to turn the tide until the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get the job done.
Head coach Brad Stevens subbed in the bench, who at least made a good showing in their limited playing time, the Spurs coming away with the 129-114 win.
San Antonio was led by a 30-point, 6-rebound, 10-of-17 shooting night from DeRozan and 15 points from Bryn Forbes, as well as 19 points off the bench from guard Lonnie Walker IV.
The Celtics saw Hayward have an excellent night with 18 points off 7-of-14 shooting (including 4-of-7 from three), and Brown logged 16 points while missing 5-of-6 attempts from deep.
Swingman Tatum had an equally poor night from beyond the arc, going 0-for-5 on the night despite a 15-point, 5-board outing.
The Boston Celtics next face the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center at 7pm ET Jan. 8.
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