Boston Celtics: 3 Takeaways from loss to the Spurs

2. Late Game Execution

With two minutes left in the contest, the Boston Celtics had a two-point lead. With Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown all on the court, their late-game offense should improve. However, there left lots to be desired.

Firstly, after Kemba missed a three, Keldon Johnson completely crossed up Brown on a drive, finishing with a two-handed slam to tie the game up at 101. Jaylen usually doesn’t get beat that bad by anyone, but Johnson made a great move to get an easy two.

After a timeout, the Cs looked to take the lead once again. With the play going to Brown, he drove to the hoop aggressively, and just missed the dunk. Sure, it was a difficult finish, but in those situations, it has to go down.

On the other end, DeMar DeRozan drew a quick foul on Thompson, giving San Antonio the lead by two. The best play of the last two minutes for the Celtics came next, with Brown penetrating the lane and finding Daniel Theis for the dunk. In the past, Jaylen would have tried to force up this shot against two defenders in traffic, but he instead found the open man in Theis, who contributed immediately after coming off the bench.

The Spurs continued with their great execution, with DeRozan hitting a mid-range shot, and now the Celtics had their chance. Down two, with the ball, and it’s inbounded to Kemba. Dejounte Murray has the assignment, and he flat out picks his pocket. That can’t happen, and Murray made the most of it, finishing the dunk at the other end. The Celtics had ball security issues all night, and they came up again in the final moments.

They got another chance to tie the game as time expired, but Marcus Smart missed the open three in the corner, giving the Spurs the win.

The Boston Celtics have had their fair share of great endings to games so far this year, but have also had questionable ones. It’s still early in the season, so it’s not time to panic yet, but the late-game execution certainly looked clunky.