Two of the hottest teams in basketball met up in Texas on Tuesday night. Heading into the game, the Boston Celtics were 14-3 in their last 17, and the San Antonio Spurs were 14-1 in their last 15.
It was slated to be one of the most entertaining games of the season. And it lived up to that billing.
Early on, the Spurs had a leg up. They were making tough threes, and Boston’s triples weren’t falling. But an early sub from Joe Mazzulla helped change the pace of the game.
Luka Garza came in for Neemias Queta, and he immediately gave the Celtics a different look. Garza’s floor spacing helped stretch San Antonio’s defense, and Boston did a good job of keeping Victor Wembanyama as far from the rim as possible.
If he were guarding Garza, he would space up to the wing. If he were guarding Sam Hauser, he would do the same. They wanted Wembanyama out of the corners when possible.
But the real star of the show was Jaylen Brown. He shredded the Spurs’ defense, even challenging Wembanyama on a couple of plays. He finished a tough layup over the Frenchman, and later on, nailed a turnaround jumper in his face.
Ron Harper Jr., who enjoyed a family reunion against his brother, Dylan, played an important role off the bench. His 7-foot-1 wingspan made him a menace on defense, and he was giving Boston some buckets, too. Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez were right behind him in terms of bench impact.
Even Derrick White was on fire, leading the Celtics in first-half points with 13, tallying five assists on top of that.
Brown had eight points and seven assists in 14:42 of action, but that’s where his night ended.
He and Joe Mazzulla had been jawing with the referees all night, and with 3:38 to go in the half, those arguments came to a head.
Brown fell out of bounds, but he felt he was shoved by Stephon Castle. He immediately began yelling at the officials. One gave him a tech, but he wasn’t done talking, and he received a second in quick succession, resulting in his ejection.
The subplot of the evening was
