Boston Celtics: 3 takeaways from excruciating loss against Spurs
By Ryan Cinque
The Boston Celtics fell short of a comeback win with a 96-88 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
Boston couldn’t have had a worse start to the game, making just three of their first 21 field goals.
It wasn’t long before they found themselves in a 24-point hole.
To the C’s credit, however, they did manage to cut that deficit down to just seven points in the first half but were unable to close strong and went into the locker room down by 15.
The second half saw Boston slowly find their footing before they started chipping away at the Spurs’ lead. A strong start to the fourth quarter allowed them to take their first lead of the game which ballooned all the way up to seven with just a few minutes to go.
A poor final few minutes allowed the Spurs to go on a 15-0 run and take the game comfortably.
There was some good and a lot of bad from this disappointing loss to the Spurs. Here are three takeaways:
Boston Celtics takeaway No.1) C’s offense needs some serious work done
The Boston Celtics have really struggled to find consistent offense this season. Jayson Tatum has struggled a lot, Jaylen Brown has missed a lot of time, and outside of those two guys the Cs don’t have anyone to rely on consistently.
Sometimes it’s Dennis Schröder, other times it’s Marcus Smart, and even in some rare cases, it’s been Grant Williams.
Far too often, however, it is none of those guys and the Celtics find themselves dropping easy games to bottom feeders in the standings.
Tatum scored 21 of his 24 points in the second half which helped Boston take control of the game, but outside of that, there wasn’t enough scoring.
It is very hard to win games when you shoot sub-40 percent from the field and sub-30 percent from 3-point range on the night.
The biggest concern with the offense is how it seems to disappear in crucial moments when they desperately need buckets. One or two baskets during the Spurs’ late run could’ve made all the difference and kept their lead intact heading into the final minute.
The Boston Celtics have a lot to figure out on that end of the floor and it should start with Brown and Tatum taking over for longer periods of the game when the supporting cast isn’t knocking down their shots.