Celtics’ Herculean effort in stiff test overshadowed by baffling decision

What was billed as one of the most exciting matchups of the regular season certainly delivered. Fans who tuned into the Boston Celtics vs. San Antonio Spurs meeting on Tuesday were treated to some fantastic hoops. Unfortunately, the Celtics, down Payton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown (for a half) couldn't hang with the hottest team in the league.

Here's what stood out:

Wemby is a problem

22-year-old Victor Wembanyma is unlike any player the NBA has seen before. He’s seven-feet-five-inches tall and has the skills of a shooting guard -- not exactly the player you can really gameplan to stop. You can only hope to slow him down.

Boston elected to take the “force him to score outside of the paint” route. It makes sense. Keep the tallest player on the court away from the basket and make him hurt you in another way.

It just really sucks when he’s more than happy to oblige.

Wemby absolutely torched the Celtics from long range. He drilled a career-high eight triples en route to a 39-point, 11-rebound performance.

Tyler Ford is also a problem

The Celtics had to play over half of this game without Jaylen Brown, whose impact can’t be emphasized enough on the season.

Brown seemed to be poised for a big night against the Spurs with eight points and seven assists in his first 14+ minutes. We’ll never know, though.

JB wound up getting himself ejected late in the second quarter, after he felt official Tyler Ford missed a push call on a play where Brown fell out of bounds.

It took almost the entire Celtics coaching staff to hold the All-NBA forward back as he let the whole officiating crew have it.

Boston sure could’ve used him as they simply couldn’t keep up with the Spurs in the second half.

Derrick White looked right at home in San Antonio

Derrick White spent his first four and a half NBA seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. He sure looked right at home in Thursday’s primetime matchup at Frost Bank Center. White gave one of his best performances of the season, giving the Celtics a much-needed boost in the third quarter.

The All-Defensive guard caught fire and poured in 19 third-quarter points on a crisp 7-11 from the field. Boston needed every single bucket to keep up with the red hot spurs, as San Antonio tallied 39 points in the frame.

White led the way for Boston, but his season-high of 34 points weren’t enough to get them across the finish line, unfortunately.

Ron Harper Jr.!

Ron Harper Jr. has given the Celtics solid productions every time he’s gotten the opportunity this season. Over the past month or so, the two-way guard has seen a significant increase in playing time with Anfernee Simons’ trade-deadline departure.

As he’s done over the past five weeks, he gave Joe Mazzulla even more reason to trust him down the line with his performance on Tuesday. Harper Jr. stepped up big time with Payton Pritchard sidelined with neck spasms, scoring 22 points off the bench on an efficient 8-11 from the field.

He knocked down catch-and-shoot threes, and even had a strong drive to the basket when the Cs needed a bucket early in the fourth quarter.

His size and three-point shooting ability make him a serious candidate for rotational minutes in the years to come, should Boston decide to keep him around.