The TD Backyard crowd acquired a glimpse of the long run on Wednesday night time, as rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama took the court docket in Boston to face the Celtics on their residence court docket for the primary time in what appears to be like to be a protracted NBA profession. Regardless of sturdy play from the younger phenom, although, the Celtics completely dealt with a younger San Antonio roster, incomes their second blowout win over the Spurs this season, 117-98.
Main the way in which for the Celtics was the trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Jrue Vacation, who rating 20+ factors apiece en path to 67 mixed for the night time. They helmed a balanced effort for a shorthanded Boston group on the night, by which each participant who took the court docket recorded at the least two made baskets. For the Spurs, the 19-year-old Wembanyama had one other exceptional outing, scoring 27 on 10-of-19 taking pictures, and Devin Vassell added 21, however the supporting solid didn’t supply sufficient of a punch for San Antonio to maintain tempo.
With Derrick White (ankle) and Kristaps Porzingis (knee) out for this matchup in opposition to the towering San Antonio rookie, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla opted for measurement within the beginning lineup. Al Horford assumed a spot, as he often does, however the shock second fill-in was reserve heart Luke Kornet. Clearly, coping with Wembanyama’s outlier measurement and prodigious talent was some extent of emphasis on this matchup.
Early on, that emphasis didn’t appear to assist. Wembanyama was on the cash from the leap on this one, scoring 10 factors within the first 5 minutes of the sport, together with two made threes. The Celtics additionally struggled to manage the glass in opposition to San Antonio’s duo of Wembanyama and Jeremy Sochan, permitting three fast offensive rebounds within the early going. The Spurs have performed higher basketball in current weeks than their file would lead you to consider, and you can see it on the court docket.
Whereas a blowout didn’t appear imminent simply but, the Celtics additionally didn’t get caught flat-footed. Wembanyama was a handful, however the Spurs’ cautious administration of his minutes stored him off the court docket for the rest of the primary quarter, and the San Antonio protection had little functionality to cope with Boston’s scoring. Behind sizzling begins from Tatum, Brown and Vacation, the Celtics merely outscored the Spurs. They led by 5 getting into the second quarter, 30-25.
The difficulty for San Antonio was that there simply wasn’t sufficient of a contribution from the supporting solid round Wemby. Exterior of the rookie’s 14 first-half factors, only one Spur — Malaki Branham — transformed greater than two area aim makes an attempt. Tatum and Vacation, in the meantime, have been scorching sizzling. Tatum scored 17 on the half, whereas Vacation adopted his Celtics-career-best 22 factors in opposition to Toronto with 14 of his personal within the first tonight. One 40-point quarter later, the Celtics have been strolling into halftime having fun with a 70-45 lead.
It’s been encouraging to see Vacation taking a bit extra assertive of a task within the Boston offensive the previous two video games. All of this group’s star gamers have needed to make private sacrifices for the great of the roster — there’s just one basketball, in any case — however none of scaled again additional than Vacation has. After scoring 19.3 factors per sport on a 25% utilization fee in his remaining 12 months with the Bucks, these numbers have dropped to 13.9 and 17.2 this 12 months. He’s accepted his lowered position with out criticism, but it surely has been good to see he can nonetheless flip up the amount when the group requires it.
The emergence of Devin Vassell prompted one thing of a San Antonio comeback within the third quarter. They rattled off a 9-0 run halfway by the quarter, a part of a surge that minimize the Celtics’ lead down as little as 14. Boston had constructed themselves sufficient of a buffer, although, that they have been in a position to face up to the surge. The continued brilliance of Tatum, Brown and Vacation — together with some vitality and hustle from Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta — stored the Spurs at arm’s size. Regardless of a 33-point quarter for San Antonio, the Celtics entered the ultimate body with a 16-point lead, 94-78.
There wasn’t a lot drama available within the fourth. The Celtics rattled off an 11-2 run to kick off the quarter, and a 25-point lead with 9 minutes remaining was at all times going to be an excessive amount of to beat for the younger, discombobulated Spurs offense. From there, it was a matter of taking part in out the clock — at the same time as a displeased Mazzulla known as for a timeout and challenged an out-of-bounds name within the waning minutes of the sport. For what it’s price, he received the problem. The Celtics’ rotation hit the bench roughly one minute of sport time later.
Subsequent up, the defending champs are coming to city, because the Celtics host Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets at 7:30 PM EST on ESPN.