Spurs Skeleton Crew Hangs Tough vs. Celtics, Jayson Tatum in Tight Loss
There were tons of headlines to follow when the San Antonio Spurs entered Saturday's meeting against the league-leading Boston Celtics at the AT&T Center.
It marked the first time since last season's trade that the two clubs had met, as former Spurs guard Derrick White got a standing ovation in pregame from the San Antonio crowd. Ex Celtics Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford, whom the Spurs received in return, got to face their former team.
But as it turns out, what ended up being a thrilling game despite the projected blowout is what was deserving of all the attention, as Celtics star Jayson Tatum hit a go-ahead baseline jumper with 33.1 seconds left to give Boston (28-12) a 121-116 win over the Spurs (13-27).
“Great game, couldn’t be more proud of them,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Jayson did it at the end of the game, (he) got us.
With Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and Jakob Poeltl all sidelined due to injury - guys who are arguably San Antonio's three-best players - the Spurs still managed to hang tight with a Celtics team that entered Saturday with the league's best record.
“Lots of great contributions from everybody on the court and over time we will get everybody back,” Popovich said.
Without those three, the Spurs were led with eight double-digit scoring efforts, which was highlighted by performances from Tre Jones (18 points), Richardson (18 points) and Zach Collins (18 points, 12 rebounds).
The Celtics were led by their big three of Tatum (34 points), Jaylen Brown (29 points) and Malcolm Brogdon (23 points).
“Obviously they are an extremely well-coached team,” Tatum said. “Teams like that are dangerous. Kind of playing carefree, the pace that they play at.”
White helped spark the C's to an early 13-2 lead, but the Spurs responded and only trailed 33-30 at the end of the first quarter.
The Spurs then lost that momentum and trailed by as many as 15 in the closing minutes of the first half. Still, Jones led an 11-0 run midway through the third quarter that put San Antonio down just one at 71-70.
From there, the game remained a tight back-and-forth contest.
It was fitting that in the closing minutes, it was Langford and Richardson stepping up to the plate against their former team. Langford had four straight points for the Spurs while Richardson drew a timely charge on the defensive end before nailing the game-tying triple with 37.4 seconds left to make it a 116-116 game.
Richardson got a block-happy Robert Williams into the air with a simple pump-fake and drilled the uncontested 3, which had brought the Spurs level on the scoreboard in front of a rowdy home crowd.
But Tatum responded quickly, as he nailed an easy baseline jumper to give Boston a 118-116 lead with 33.1 seconds left. And with the Celtics leading 119-116 with 4.2 seconds left, he missed a free throw to give the Spurs potential life, but Boston secured the offensive rebound to seal the win.
The Spurs will now play the Memphis Grizzlies for two straight games at FedEx Forum on Monday and Wednesday.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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