The Boston Celtics will look to finish a successful December with another win when they travel to play the struggling San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
The Celtics, the top team in the Eastern Conference, have won five straight games and 11 of their 13 contests in December. Boston’s most recent win was a 120-118 slugfest at home against Toronto that went down to the final seconds, with the Celtics keeping the Raptors from taking a final shot after a purposely missed free throw.
Jaylen Brown had 31 points and 10 rebounds to lead Boston, which played without Al Horford (rest), Kristaps Porzingis (calf) and leading scorer Jayson Tatum (ankle) in the second game of a home back-to-back set.
“No matter the lineup, we have small things we can go to,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We have guys that are willing to step up, we have guys that understand it’s about execution, it’s about effort, and it’s about toughness. I’ve got 1,000 percent faith in the entire locker room. The poise to be able to just execute is kind of what we’re looking to build.”
Derrick White added 21 points while Luke Kornet scored 20 and Jrue Holiday added 15 points for Boston, which is 16-0 at home. Kornet, who had not played since Dec. 12 because of a left adductor strain, had a critical dunk in the final minute to help the Celtics survive a back-and-forth fourth quarter.
“(Kornet) is a professional, shows up to work every day, plays his role, and it was awesome to watch him play at the level that he did,” Mazzulla said.
The Spurs, who are mired at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, head home after splitting a two-game, back-to-back series in Portland. San Antonio, playing without rookie star Victor Wembanyama, lost the second contest of the set 134-128 to the short-handed Trail Blazers on Friday after winning on Thursday to snap a five-game losing streak.
The Spurs trailed by 26 points in the third quarter on Friday but never tossed in the towel, closing to within five points in the final minute.
“We played horrendously, getting down 26 (points),” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We didn’t make shots, but that’s the NBA. I told the team I was proud of them and the way they hung tough. (A) young group can just give in, but they got back in the ballgame by playing more physically themselves.”
Keldon Johnson led the Spurs with 29 points off the bench in Friday’s loss. Devin Vassell scored 22, Doug McDermott added 18 points, Zach Collins had 17, Tre Jones tallied 14 and Malaki Branham had 11 for San Antonio. Wembanyama was held out in the second game of the set to rest a sprained ankle.
“They (Portland) out-physicaled us in the first half,” Vassell said. “We just kind of fell into that. We got way more aggressive later in the third quarter. Basketball is a game of runs and we started to go on our run and we weren’t letting their physicality determine our game. I’m proud of us for that but we shouldn’t have given them that cushion we gave them.”
Boston won both games against the Spurs last season.
–Field Level Media