What Stood Out in the Celtics' Loss VS Spurs

As was the case against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday, familiar habits plagued the Celtics in their loss to the Spurs on Saturday night. Below is an examination of those glaring concerns, as well as the positives that stood out from their performance.

It was a frustrating loss for the Boston Celtics, who are having a hard time maturing beyond familiar problems. Here's what stood out from a game where the Celtics played well enough in some areas to earn a win against the San Antonio Spurs but fell well short in other aspects.

Celtics Slow Out of the Gates

The Celtics played nonchalantly to start the game, which, coupled with poor shooting and some high-percentage attempts not going down, led to them trailing by 24 points in the first half.

It's one thing to shoot 5/26 and score 14 points in the first quarter, but when your first-year head coach returns to a place as influential in getting to where he is as San Antonio is to Ime Udoka, coming out flat is a more glaring issue. Not to mention, Boston was coming off a home loss to a Brooklyn Nets team that pummeled them for much of the game.

Boston Boosted by Second Unit

Even with Robert Williams and Josh Richardson out (non-Covid illness in both cases), resulting in Dennis Schroder once again shifting from the second unit to the starting lineup, and the Celtics missing one of their top rotation players, Boston's bench played an integral role in the team's ability to climb back into the game.

The Celtics' second unit chipped in 23 points on 8/17 (47 percent) shooting, along with four of Boston's seven blocks. Beyond the numbers, that group's energy helped ignite the Celtics' defense, which created the spark that got Boston back into the game. Furthermore, Enes Kanter's screens went a long way towards the Celtics' shooters getting quality looks that helped them find their rhythm. He also played pretty well on defense. Despite difficult circumstances, Boston's bench made meaningful contributions on both ends of the floor.

Defense at the Root of the Celtics' Comeback

As poorly as the Celtics played offensively in the first half, their defense held the Spurs to 52 points and got the stops necessary to fuel a 19-2 run in the second quarter that got Boston back in the game. It was a similar story when the Celtics were rolling in the second half. Stingy defense led to quality looks at the other end, which propelled them into the lead, even going up by seven with 3:21 left. Unfortunately for the Celtics, they failed to score after that.

Boston held the Spurs to 96 points on 43.7 percent shooting, including 6/24 (25 percent) from three; on that end of the court, the Celtics did enough to leave San Antonio with a win.

Spurs Land the Last Punch

Credit a young Spurs team for maintaining their composure despite getting outplayed for most of the fourth quarter. As stated above, the Celtics went scoreless in the final three-plus minutes, while San Antonio went on a 15-0 run to rally for the win. The Celtics are now 6-24 in San Antonio.