Jayson Tatum leads Celtics past Spurs in final game before All-Star break
A strong start from Jayson Tatum helped carry the Boston Celtics past the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night, in the team’s final game before the NBA All-Star break.
The Boston Celtics are heading into the NBA All-Star break on a high note. In their final game before the break on Wednesday night, the Celtics beat the San Antonio Spurs 116-103 at TD Garden.
With the win – their third in a row – the Celtics improve to 39-16 on the season. They remain in second place in the Eastern Conference.
In the final game before his sixth all-star appearance, Jayson Tatum wasted no time making an impact. In the first 10 minutes of the game he had nine points and four rebounds as the Celtics jumped out to a 26-15 lead.
Tatum would hit a couple of more baskets before the end of the first, and capped the quarter with a behind-the-head pass to Al Horford for a buzzer-beater three-pointer. That shot had the Celtics up 37-19 at the first break.
The Celtics kept the pressure up on both ends of the floor in the second quarter. In particular, they were stifling the Spurs from deep. San Antonio shot 3-of-21 from three in the first half. Heading into the locker rooms for halftime, the Celtics led 66-47.
San Antonio had a 13-6 run to start the second half, trimming the Celtics’ lead to 10. The teams went back and forth the rest of the way, with guard De’Aaron Fox scoring 12 points in the frame. Going into the fourth the score was 93-81 Celtics.
Early at the start of the fourth quarter, the Celtics’ lead was trimmed to single digits, but that was very brief. Boston responded with a 13-5 run, and the game never returned to a single-digit margin.
Tatum led the way for the Celtics. He finished with a game-high 32 points, shooting 12-of-25 from the floor. He also had 14 rebounds and seven assists.
Kristaps Porzingis was second on the team in scoring, with 29 points. Derrick White flirted with a triple-double with 19 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds. Torrey Craig made his Celtics debut and scored six points off the bench, hitting a pair of threes.
Trade deadline acquisition De’Aaron Fox led the Spurs with 23 points. Victor Wembenyama had 17 points and 13 rebounds.
The Celtics will now have seven days off for the All-Star break. Their next game is next Thursday Feb. 20 when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers. Coverage of that game can be heard on 98.5 The Sports Hub and the Celtics Radio Network starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.
