Celtics Out-Shot By Spurs

Tonight, the Celtics lost yet another game in a frustrating fashion. The final was 120-111 with the Spurs on top.

It’s just very frustrating to watch games like this as a fan. The Celtics played a solid first half and were up 6 at that break. Then they came out and gave up 46 points in the third quarter. That’s the same number of points that they allowed in the entire first half. After that, there really was no looking back for the Spurs as they stayed hot in the fourth quarter.

When it came down to it, the Celtics couldn’t get a stop for their lives. They would get the lead down to 9, then the Spurs would come down and get an easy bucket. The defense was the thing that killed the Celtics tonight. The offense wasn’t too bad, but the defense did them no favors at all.

If there’s one positive from tonight’s loss, it’s the play of Jaylen Brown. He finished the game with 30 points on 10-15 from the field and 3-5 from deep. Brown was aggressive going to the basket tonight, which he should be. I think it’s important that he continues to drive to get himself going. But, once he got going tonight, he started to shoot some threes. Usually I don’t think it’s the best thing for Brown to shoot a bunch of threes, but he was in the zone tonight. I will say, when he is shooting threes, it’s best that they come from the corners. That’s his best spot behind the arc and it really seems to help his confidence. I hope he can find some type of consistency going forward. It’s really hit or miss with Jaylen. It’s either 20+ or like 4 points.

The Celtics just couldn’t stop anything in the second half. They allowed the Spurs to score 74 points on 67% shooting. Believe it or not, the Celtics actually won the fourth quarter, but the terrible third was too much to overcome.

In that third quarter San Antonio scored 46 points and shot 76% from the field including 5-5 from deep. That’s absolutely atrocious defending on the Celtics’ side. It’s not like the Spurs were making tough shots either, they just got whatever they wanted. The Spurs got themselves plenty of wide open corner threes, and Lamarcus Aldridge dominated the Celtics down low. Those are the things that the Celtics are supposed to be good at. Al Horford is supposed to be a defensive anchor in the paint, and all you’ll hear about is the top 5 three point defense. Well, they certainly could’ve used a bit of both tonight.

Wednesday night the Celtics will be back in Boston to host the Timberwolves. Hopefully they’ll start 2019 off on the right foot.

Happy New Year!