BOSTON – The Boston Celtics knew they had to play near-perfect basketball Friday afternoon if they hoped to defeat a San Antonio Spurs team that entered the day with a league-best 8-0 record on the road.
Boy, did Boston come close.
The C’s hung with San Antonio for the entire game, but a miscommunication and missed rebound on the defensive end down the stretch proved costly for the Celtics as they fell, 109-103.
“Against the really good teams we just can’t have those lapses,” said Al Horford. “Maybe against other teams we can get away with it, but this team will make you pay for it, and they did.”
Boston was down 104-101 with about 45 seconds to go, but a defensive miscommunication allowed Patty Mills to get wide open and drill a 3-pointer to double San Antonio’s lead.
Manu Ginobili missed a shot on San Antonio’s next possession, but LaMarcus Aldridge collected the offensive board, was fouled and made both of his free throws. That basically sealed the deal for the Spurs, who displayed a remarkable effort during the final frame.
Jae Crowder said after the game that this Spurs team is one of the best he’s ever seen during the fourth quarter.
Avery Bradley had a similar opinion, noting that “you have to be perfect” if you hope to beat San Antonio down the stretch.
“They don’t take plays off,” added Bradley. “They play well together as a team on both ends of the floor. They’re all on the same page. It’s almost like watching a machine play.”
Boston also played like a well-oiled machine for the majority of Friday’s contest, with the exception of those few lapses down the stretch.
The Celtics flew out to a 28-14 lead and held a 10-point advantage through one quarter.
Boston’s starters, led by Isaiah Thomas’ 24 points, had one of their best collective outings of the season, as they outscored San Antonio’s starting five, 73-53.
Brad Stevens was particularly impressed with his squad’s offensive aggression around the rim.
“I thought offensively we were pretty good,” said Stevens. “Our goal was (to) attack the paint and I thought we attacked the paint all night.”
Boston’s overall tenacity was something that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was concerned about heading into this matchup.
“On both ends of the court they are aggressive defensively, offensively, disciplined, unselfish, active, changing sides of the court, doing everything right,” said Popovich. “So we feel great to have been able to come here and get a win.”
San Antonio’s second unit, led by Mills (19 points), Davis Bertans (15 points) and David Lee (15 points and 12 rebounds), enabled it to nab the victory. The Spurs’ bench showcased its depth, outscoring Boston’s reserves, 56-30.
“They have excellent players, an excellent system and style of play, and got great play off their bench tonight,” said Stevens. “And when you combine that with the rebounding, when you’re minus-9, which hopefully you can manage that and be a little bit closer even with the size difference… We have to play a little bit better to win that game against a really good team.”
While the Celtics made a couple of critical mistakes during crunch time Friday afternoon, several of their players agree that the team is heading in the right direction. Boston has been playing more cohesively over the last week, and this game in particular was a very hard-fought battle against one of the top teams in the league.
“We’re playing the type of basketball that we want to play,” said Crowder. “We just had a few plays there late that were the deciding factor of the game. We’ll get better at that, but I feel like we are going in the right direction.”
The C’s will look to continue to build in the right direction Saturday at practice, before heading off to Miami to face the Heat Monday night.
