Boston Celtics
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla dared Wemby to burn them from the 3-point line, and the Spurs star did just that.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) shoots over Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta (88) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. AP Photo/Eric Gay
Victor Wembanyama had a big night, but Jaylen Brown’s ejection marred what was shaping up to be a regular-season classic, and the Spurs pulled away late for a 125-116 win.
Here are the takeaways.
Victor Wembanyama went off.
The Celtics were fairly clear about their strategy in defending the Spurs superstar: Give up threes rather than twos and hope he can’t shoot you out of the game.
The strategy makes some sense — Wembanyama is solid, but he’s only making 35 percent of his 3-point attempts this year. Joe Mazzulla loves to try to manipulate the math in his favor, and when part of the equation is a 7-foot-4 center (who appears to be significantly taller than 7-foot-4) that can do a little bit of everything offensively, the numbers become more difficult to square.
The numbers became impossible for the Celtics when Wembanyama started drilling 3-pointers. The 22-year-old finished the game 8-for-15 from deep and scored 39 points overall, adding 11 rebounds and three assists. The Celtics actually made the game difficult for him in several areas — he finished with six turnovers and didn’t really dominate in the paint the way he often does — but his 3-pointers and De’Aaron Fox’s 25 points (in tandem with certain key absences from the Celtics’ lineup) were too much for the Celtics to counteract.
Jaylen Brown got tossed.
Jaylen Brown appeared to be on his way to the kind of regular-season game that sticks with you for a while—he had eight points in the first 14 minutes, he was cooking the Spurs in the mid-range, and he had even challenged Wembanyama at the rim and won.
Then official Tyler Ford missed a call on the sideline, and Brown exploded.
As Brown dribbled the ball toward the sideline, Stephon Castle put two hands on his back and appeared to give him a small push out of bounds. Ford simply called out of bounds and jogged back the other way, and Brown pursued him up the floor barking at him.
Ford, apparently, couldn’t hear Brown, and when Brown continued to shout at him, he nodded as if to acknowledge that it was possible he missed the foul. Brown didn’t let up, and Ford whistled him for his first technical.
Brown, however, kept going. Ford — who was the crew chief — appeared to be trying to let Brown wear himself out, but third official Suyash Mehta stepped in from the sideline to whistle a second technical on Brown, tossing him out of the game.
Brown did not leave the court immediately and he kept advancing at Ford, which will at best earn him a fine and at worst could earn him a suspension.
Brown has been angry at the officiating all year (including the last time the Celtics played the Spurs when they shot just four free throws for the entire game), and just minutes after his ejection, he posted “This the s*** I be talking about” on X.
Meanwhile, down the stretch, the Celtics simply ran out of scoring with both Brown and Payton Pritchard (sidelined due to neck spasms) off the floor. Brown might have had a genuine gripe with Ford, but his absence cost the Celtics.
“I understand completely where Jaylen was coming from, absolutely,” Mazzulla said afterward. “And I’ve got his back 100 percent. I think he was 100 percent right to be frustrated and do what he did.”
Jayson Tatum played well in Brown’s absence.
Keep setting aside the efficiency for Tatum — that will come around as he gets closer to 100 percent.
For now, seeing Tatum put up 24 points is encouraging even if it comes on 24 shots. Tatum hoisted some difficult 3-pointers, but he made four, and more importantly, he got to the rim a few times as well, beating Wembanyama in isolation on the perimeter twice.
Creating separation still looks like an issue for Tatum, which is to be expected, but he is using his body well, and his movement is crafty. He could probably cut down his 3-point attempts (4-for-14), but again, there’s no reason to pick nits with his efficiency at this stage, especially on an evening when two of the Celtics’ best scorers were sidelined.
Derrick White was a star.
The All-Kenny-Atkinson First Team guard finished with 34 points, and while he wasn’t the biggest story of the game, he was by far the Celtics’ best player.
White played his usual defense, which was excellent even by the lofty standards set by the Spurs’ imposing superstar, but he was particularly impressive offensively.
White looked completely unintimidated by Wembanyama — going right at him repeatedly in the paint and scoring in a variety of creative ways. At one point, White snuck a quick layup off the glass under Wembanyama’s towering frame, and Wembanyama smacked the rim microphone as he tried to block it. Twice, White simply floated the ball in over Wembanyama as he drove to the basket, catching the Spurs star flat-footed. At one point, White isolated against Wembanyama behind the 3-point line and buried a three in his face as Tatum screamed at him in celebration.
White’s aggressiveness was crucial not only because the Celtics needed offense, but also because he was willing to attack Wembanyama in pick-and-roll, rather than letting Wembanyama’s presence deter him. Going at the young star is (pun not intended but grudgingly acknowledged) a tall task, and White proved himself more than up to it on Tuesday.
Ron Harper Jr. had a career-high (against his little brother).
Another bright spots for the Celtics was Ron Harper Jr., who finished with 22 points and — perhaps most importantly — outscored his younger brother Dylan (who was the No. 2 pick in last summer’s draft) 22-9.
Harper has shot well from 3-point range and he was 6-for-9 against the Spurs, but he also showed some flashes getting all the way to the rim. He has looked very much like a player who deserves an NBA contract, and the Celtics very well might be hoping to poke around on his value in the offseason when cheap production is at a premium.
“He’s been great,” Mazzulla said. “He’s continuing to get better on both ends of the floor. Tonight it was the shooting, but I think his defense is just as impactful as everyone else’s. Just another guy that can impact winning for us.”
A potential Finals preview?
While the Thunder should still probably be considered the favorites to come out of the West, doing so is far from guaranteed — repeating as champions is a brutally difficult task, even for a young team, and the Thunder have struggled immensely against the Spurs this year. Wembanyama is young to lead a team on a Finals run, but he’s an unprecedented player in many ways, and the Spurs look ready to make a push.
The Celtics, of course, are also far from guaranteed a trip to the Finals, but they just got Tatum back, and the regular season they had without him allows plenty of room for fans to dream.
A Celtics/Spurs series would be fascinating. Wembanyama is perhaps the league’s most dominant two-way force, and the guards around him are dynamic, dangerous, and solid defensively. The Celtics have Finals pedigree, and Mazzulla appeared to have a pretty solid plan for how to deal with Wembanyama on a Tuesday in March.
A rematch in June would likely make for a lengthy series of highly entertaining basketball.
What’s next
The Celtics will now travel to OKC to take on the Thunder on Thursday at 9:30 p.m.
On Saturday, they take on the Wizards, who just gave up 83 (!!) points to Bam Adebayo. Jaylen Brown would be licking his chops, if there were any chance at all of him getting 43 free throws.
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