The Boston Celtics weren't able to carry the momentum from Friday's win over the Raptors into Saturday's meeting with Luke Kornet's San Antonio Spurs, ultimately falling 100-95 to finish off their homestand.
Here's what stood out:
The Celtics did not do a great job of getting across the finish line
A Derrick White layup gave the Celtics a three-point lead with just under three minutes to play in this one. The Spurs took a timeout, regrouped, and turned the game around one final time. Boston scored just three points for the rest of the game, while San Antonio found consistent offense to get them across the finish line.
As outlined in the next section, it's not easy to put the ball in the basket when Victor Wembanyama standing in your way. Nonetheless, the Cs struggled to get good looks as the time ticked down.
Jaylen Brown did miss a clean three, but besides that it was pretty ugly. He turned the ball over on the following possession then was forced into a tough three after that.
It was reminiscent of some past painful playoff losses where the Celtics would struggle to score late in games.
Everything is more difficult against Wemby
It sounds obvious that scoring on a seven-foot-five freak of nature would be difficult, but when you see Victor Wembanyama on the floor against the Celtics, you can see how uncomfortable he makes things for them.
Any time a Celtics player drove to the basket with Wemby on the floor, they had to completely rethink what they were doing. The way he is able to impact shots just by being in the vicinity is unbelievable. Ironically, this seemed to help Jaylen Brown’s three-pointer early in this game.
He drilled two over Wemby, and the added arc he had to put on the shots almost certainly gave them a better shot of finding the bottom of the net.
Aside from Jaylen’s threes, though, not much good came from trying to go up over the young Frenchman.
Luka Garza’s three-point shot is very real
Luka Garza always had potential as a shooter before he arrived in Boston this summer. He never quite got the opportunity to develop a rhythm during his time in Detroit, Minnesota, or even his first few months as a Celtic.
Ever since he returned to Joe Mazzulla’s rotation after a month-long hiatus, he has been as reliable as they come from long range. Maybe it’s the way teams have guarded him, but every time Garza fires up a three, I think it’s going in. Garza is shooting 68.7% from long range since Dec. 20, including a 3-4 performance against the Spurs.
Welcome back Baylor Scheierman
Saturday was the first time that second-year Celtics wing Baylor Scheierman saw over 20 minutes since Boston’s Dec. 26 win over the Indiana Pacers. Prior to that, it’d been over three weeks since Scheierman’s last substantial stint.
Well, he made the most of his opportunity against San Antonio.
The 25-year-old played maybe his best game of the season. Not only did he provide some extra offense off the bench with 10 points, but he also consistently battled on defense and made things difficult for the Spurs. Scheierman always seemed to be in the right position and used his body quite well. There was a Neemias Queta block on Harrison Barnes late in the fourth quarter that Scheierman created with his solid defense.
In other words, he did all of the things Mazzulla hopes to see from his fringe rotation players.