Spurs fight hard but fall short against the Celtics

03/29/2025 11:30 PM

The Spurs never allowed the Celtics to put them away, but the Celtics also never allowed them to come all the way back.

After a 1-2 Eastern Conference road trip, including coming off an admirable showing against the leading Cleveland Cavaliers in which they fell just short, the San Antonio Spurs returned home hoping to play spoilers against the second seed in the East and defending-champion Boston Celtics. After the Celtics exploded from three in the first quarter, the Spurs spent the rest of the night playing catch-up, and while they fought admirably throughout and made things interesting in the fourth quarter, they could never quite do enough to come all the way back in a 111-121 loss.

Both teams traded buckets early, but it was clear from the get-go that the Spurs would have to go toe-to-toe with the best three-point shooting team in the league it keep up. They weren't able to do that initially, hitting just one of their first eight threes to get down 19-12 at the midway point. Still, they hung in there by taking advantage of a few steals on the fast break and attacking the rim more once Kristaps Porzingis sat. Despite the final score of the quarter not looking great at 26-37, it could have been much worse with Boston hitting 8-13 threes.

Mitch Johnson called an early timeout in the second quarter as poor defensive rotations allowed two more easy Celtics buckets. The Spurs struggled to score for a bit but started fighting back by attacking the rim and forcing the refs to give them the same calls they were giving the defending champs. Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan were especially aggressive, and the Spurs were able to use a 13-2 run to briefly cut what had been a 15-point lead down to 4, 49-45, with 4:23 left, but they just couldn't get enough stops keep the Celtics — especially Jrue Holiday, who had 16 points in the half — at bay for much longer and found themselves down 52-64 at halftime.

They came out of the locker room more focused and scored the first 6 points of the third quarter while the Celtics were all out of sorts on offense. Sochan managed to draw Prozingis' fourth foul and made him sit three minutes in, but he wasn't badly missed with Luke Kornett having himself a nice night, including hitting two straight buckets at the rim to get the lead back to double-digits, 72-61. The threes started falling again for the Celtics, and soon they were out to their largest lead of 17, but to the Spurs' credit, they still refused to lie down. KJ and Stephon Castle remained assertive attacking the basket to keep the game within reach, and they were down 81-94 with 12 minutes remaining.

The Spurs continued playing inspired ball in the fourth quarter, chipping away at the lead point by point. Chris Paul, who hasn't closed many games lately, got hot after not even attempting a shot in the first half with a quick 10 points to get the lead down to seven points at 108-101, but every time the Spurs got within 10 points, Boston had an answer, whether it was an offensive rebound or a timely three. The Spurs kept fighting until the bitter end but ultimately could never tie enough makes and stops together to go on any kind of extended run, and it ended up being their second straight close-but-no-cigar game against a championship contender.

Game Notes

• After Bismack Biyombo had a great game against the Cavs, he was a DNP tonight, with Sochan back in the starting lineup and Sandro Mamukelashvili backing him up. It was an interesting decision with Sochan being no match for Porzingis' size, but then again, neither would Biyombo have been, so perhaps the idea was either to just throw Sochan to the wolves and see what he could do, and/or roll with the idea that Sochan is at least a willing outside shooter, so maybe he could draw Porzingis away from the rim. Sochan ended up having a good game. He was certainly outmatched, hitting just 4-13 from the field, but he showed no fear and continued to attack, getting awarded with 12 FT's, making 10 of them while Porzingis battled foul trouble all night. He also had 8 rebound, 3 assists and 2 steals.
• Unfortunately, the Celtics didn't miss Porzingis much because Kornett exploited the Spurs' lack of size just as well. He did everything well, including 15 points, 16 rebounds (7 of which were offensive) and four assists. He was a case of plus/mins don't lie, and his team-leading +21 was an accurate reflection of his performance off the bench,
• The Spurs actually won a lot of individual stats in this one, such as hitting 7 more free throws, taking much better care of the ball with just 6 turnovers, getting 12 more points off turnovers, and they even won points in the paint 44-38. What won the game for the Celtics was hitting more threes and exploiting the glass, winning that battle 54-35, 15-10 on offense.

Play of the game

Chris Paul was on such a heater for a stretch in the fourth quarter that he was looking vintage with shots like this. He has been looking for the three more lately, and it has certainly helped.

Up next: Sunday vs. Golden State Warriors

Believe it or not, this might be the Spurs' best chance for a win this week tomorrow against a Warriors club that is tied in the 7th seed and fighting to make the playoffs. Still, Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler have been no joke together, so the Spurs will have their hands full. Tip-off will be 6:00 PM on FanDuel Sports.