Bright future arrives early for Spurs and Celtics
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 1 minute ago
- 5 min read
By JOHN HOLLINGER / THE ATHLETIC
The San Antonio Spurs and the Boston Celtics have combined for 23 NBA titles and 29 NBA Finals appearances. Despite that, they have never faced each other in the Finals.
Is this the year that changes?
Such a proposition would have seemed ridiculous before the season, with the Celtics licking their wounds after Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tendon tear and an offseason spent shedding salary, and the Spurs seeming at least a year away from doing anything important after a 34-win season. Oddsmakers set preseason over-unders for the Spurs at 44.5 wins and the Celtics at 41.5.
Yet here they are at the halfway point: clear-cut contenders. San Antonio entered Thursday at 30-14, with the second-best record in the Western Conference, the third-best scoring margin and three wins over the mighty Oklahoma City Thunder, while Boston had the East’s second-best record and third-best point differential.
In the past week or so, I went to San Antonio’s demolition of the Milwaukee Bucks, in which the Spurs led by 39 after three quarters, and Boston’s 132-106 rout of Atlanta, in which the Celtics led by 40 in the third quarter.
Those two games underscored the teams’ moves into elite status. Come for the hilarity of Victor Wembanyama posting up A.J. Green for a 3-pointer, and stay for Sam Hauser’s 21 3-point attempt, zero 2-point attempt performance in Atlanta.
So how did we get here? An easy explanation of the Spurs’ success is to just say, “Wemby.” His brilliance is certainly a big part of it. But what stands out about San Antonio is how the Spurs have been able to succeed without him.
Entering last Thursday, the team was 10-4 in the 14 games he missed and 11-6 in the first 17 games he played since returning from a calf strain, even though a minutes restriction capped him in the mid-20s most nights. For the season, the Spurs are essentially playing opponents to a draw with Wembanyama, their best player, off the court. (With Wembanyama on, they are smashing teams by more than 10 points per 100 possessions.)
While a superstar year from Boston’s Jaylen Brown and the nightly wonder from Wemby have pushed these teams forward, the underlying story for both is that they’ve nailed most of the necessary secondary moves they needed to build out a solid roster. Boston, amazingly, tore down half its roster while also building this juggernaut, and the Spurs have benefited from high draft picks while also nailing a few transactions.
It was jarring to see the difference play out Jan. 15 between the Spurs and the Bucks, as Giannis Antetokounmpo outplayed Wembanyama for long stretches of the first half, and it ended up not mattering because of the gulf between their supporting casts.
The Spurs’ decision to sign Luke Kornet in free agency — because the Celtics were in cost-cutting mode — looks brilliant; he has been one of the best backup centers in the league.
Kornet has proved more than capable of functioning in lineups next to Wembanyama as well. That frontcourt pairing had a plus-7.1 net rating in 78 minutes entering Thursday, and we could see more of it as Wembanyama’s minutes restriction loosens. It’s an intriguing thought to file away for a playoff series.
Otherwise, the real key to San Antonio’s post-Gregg Popovich rebuild was the previous offseason. The Spurs were patient with their cap room and ended up getting paid to take Harrison Barnes in the DeMar DeRozan trade because the Chicago Bulls wanted to pay Patrick Williams instead (oopsie). As a result, the Spurs own an unprotected 2032 pick swap from the Sacramento Kings.
San Antonio also found the 3-and-D wing Julian Champagnie on the scrap heap; he has been a double-figure scorer and rebounds like a power forward, and he is signed for barely over the minimum at $3 million a year. Don’t be surprised if the Spurs decline his $3 million team option after the season to lock in a longer deal instead.
Wait, there’s more. Pushing chips in for De’Aaron Fox last winter was a risk, but so far, he has been the right complement for Wemby, adding a dose of speed to the Spurs’ attack that becomes particularly potent when reigning rookie of the year Stephon Castle (nailed that pick) or 2025 first-rounder Dylan Harper, or both, take the floor. Off the bench, Keldon Johnson is quietly having a monster season. Adding him and Devin Vassell to the mix means the Spurs have no negative minutes in their top nine.
As far as Boston goes, it’s remarkable that, statistically, the offense is actually slightly better this season than it was last season with Tatum, partly because of the lights-out shooting from Brown. We are less than two years removed from Golden State trying the “just leave Jaylen wide open” defense. Now, he’s knocking down every jumper in sight, and defenses are scrambling to double-team him early. More than half of Brown’s shot attempts are midrangers, according to Cleaning the Glass, and he is making 47% of them; that kind of volume and accuracy compels double teams and opens the floor for Boston’s other shooters.
Maybe those Brown middies aren’t the most efficient shot you could draw up, but Boston has the league’s lowest turnover rate because he gets into them so easily, and the Celtics are fifth in offensive rebound rate thanks to the changes in the frontcourt. Bringing in Neemias Queta as a starter and Luka Garza as a backup has made Boston less switchable, but now they can mash on offense.
Overall, it’s still stunning to ponder that Boston lost Tatum, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and Kornet in the 2025 offseason and replaced them by adding Garza, Anfernee Simons and rookie Hugo Gonzalez, and promoting Queta, Jordan Walsh and 2024 first-rounder Baylor Scheierman. On paper, it looked like a massive drop-off.
But Boston has figured out player development. Hauser and Queta were little-used two-ways when they arrived. Now, they start. Walsh was a second-round pick mired at the end of the bench for two years, and Scheierman looked like a bust his rookie season. Now they’re thriving, too. (Another huge success, actually, was Kornet, originally added on a nonguaranteed minimum deal in 2021.)
