The TD Backyard crowd received a glimpse of the longer term on Wednesday evening, as rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama took the courtroom in Boston to face the Celtics on their residence courtroom for the primary time in what seems to be an extended NBA profession. Regardless of sturdy play from the younger phenom, although, the Celtics totally 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 evening. They helmed a balanced effort for a shorthanded Boston crew on the night, wherein each participant who took the courtroom recorded no less than two made baskets. For the Spurs, the 19-year-old Wembanyama had one other outstanding outing, scoring 27 on 10-of-19 capturing, and Devin Vassell added 21, however the supporting forged didn’t provide sufficient of a punch for San Antonio to maintain tempo.
With Derrick White (ankle) and Kristaps Porzingis (knee) out for this matchup towards the towering San Antonio rookie, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla opted for dimension within the beginning lineup. Al Horford assumed a spot, as he often does, however the shock second fill-in was reserve middle Luke Kornet. Clearly, coping with Wembanyama’s outlier dimension and prodigious talent was a degree 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 regulate the glass towards 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 latest weeks than their document would lead you to consider, and you might see it on the courtroom.
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 saved him off the courtroom for the rest of the primary quarter, and the San Antonio protection had little functionality to take care of Boston’s scoring. Behind scorching 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 forged round Wemby. Exterior of the rookie’s 14 first-half factors, only one Spur — Malaki Branham — transformed greater than two subject purpose makes an attempt. Tatum and Vacation, in the meantime, have been scorching scorching. Tatum scored 17 on the half, whereas Vacation adopted his Celtics-career-best 22 factors towards 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 job within the Boston offensive the previous two video games. All of this crew’s star gamers have needed to make private sacrifices for the nice of the roster — there’s just one basketball, in spite of everything — however none of scaled again additional than Vacation has. After scoring 19.3 factors per sport on a 25% utilization charge in his remaining yr with the Bucks, these numbers have dropped to 13.9 and 17.2 this yr. He’s accepted his decreased position with out grievance, however it has been good to see he can nonetheless flip up the quantity when the crew 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 via the quarter, a part of a surge that reduce the Celtics’ lead down as little as 14. Boston had constructed themselves sufficient of a buffer, although, that they have been capable of stand up to the surge. The continued brilliance of Tatum, Brown and Vacation — together with some power and hustle from Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta — saved 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 enjoying out the clock — whilst a displeased Mazzulla referred to as for a timeout and challenged an out-of-bounds name within the waning minutes of the sport. For what it’s value, 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.
