For the past few weeks, the Spurs kept running into opponents missing bodies.
That is going to happen in the NBA’s COVID-19 era, but the Spurs seemed to hit an excessive run of luck - from Houston mid-James Harden trade, to a Portland team minus two starters, to a Dallas team wracked with coronavirus patients, to a Golden State team that will play the entire season without injured All-Star Klay Thompson, to a Washington team having just returned from a 13-day health and safety protocols layoff.
Wednesday night at the AT&T Center, the Spurs faced a Boston squad at full strength and as full of firepower as it has been all year.
Consider the 110-106 victory the Spurs dug out to be one of their more impressive of the season.
DeMar DeRozan scored 21 points - including the go-ahead pull-up jumper over Tristan Thompson with 27.9 seconds remaining - to help lead the charge.
The Spurs had all five starters in double figures and got 12 off the bench from Patty Mills to outlast a Boston team that will compete for the Eastern Conference crown this season.
For the first time this season, Celtics coach Brad Stevens had each of his top three scorers available. Jayson Tatum (25 points), Jaylen Brown (24 points) and Kemba Walker (14 points) did not disappoint - though Walker was a bit off rhythm in his fifth game back after offseason knee surgery.
The Spurs held on to improve to 3-0 against the East this season, and earn their third victory this season against a team with at least 10 wins.
Here are three takeaways from a confidence-boosting fourth-quarter victory:
Maybe the extra rest helped
There is no way to quantify the effect, of course, but the Spurs saved 48 minutes of wear and tear on their legs when Monday’s game at New Orleans was postponed at the 11th hour.
Having last played Sunday against the Wizards before taking the floor Wednesday, it marked the first time the Spurs had 72 hours between games since December.
At any rate, the Spurs’ energy tank still had some juice in the fourth quarter when it came time to beat Boston.
Down by a basket entering the final 90 seconds, the Spurs got a game-tying drive and dunk from Keldon Johnson, an aggressive drive leading to go-ahead free throws from DeRozan and another go-ahead jumper for DeRozan to give the Spurs a 105-103 lead.
On Boston’s next possession, Dejounte Murray did a Dejounte Murray - poking the ball away from Walker and scampering for an uncontested dunk that gave the Spurs a 107-103 edge with 15.1 seconds remaining.
After Tatum converted a three-point play on the other end - after an ill-advised foul at the rim by Jakob Poeltl - Rudy Gay went to the line to seal the game.
He limbered up and stretched out like your accountant about to begin a lunchtime run at Planet Fitness, then buried the two free throws to put the Spurs ahead by three.
The Spurs survived a wide-open look from Marcus Smart at the other end that would have tied the score, and the victory was theirs.
Maybe the Spurs would have had enough gas to pull out the victory even without Monday’s unscheduled breather. The NBA world will never know.
Johnson is still an absolute wrecking ball
The second-year swingman continues to have games and moments that makes one wonder how he slipped to No. 29 in the 2019 draft.
Johnson finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and second in three games.
He did it in that bull-in-a-china-shop way of his Spurs fans - and coaches - have come to love.
It could be argued the Spurs do not win Wednesday without a bruising stretch of the third quarter in which Johnson scored eight consecutive points for the Spurs, finishing with an offensive putback between three Boston players.
It was part of a 29-6 run the Spurs used to close the first half and take a 14-point lead into intermission.
Of course, they gave it all back in the form of a 23-3 Celtics run in the third quarter.
The Spurs could have made things easier on themselves
The Spurs coughed up a season-high 20 turnovers Wednesday, leading to 22 points for the Celtics.
It was an uncharacteristically generous night for the NBA’s least generous team. The Spurs averaged 10.7 turnovers per game coming in.
This is something the Celtics - all long arms and athleticism - tend to do to teams.
The Spurs had nine turnovers midway through the second quarter, then cleaned things up in time to go on their big run.
Boston erased a 10-point deficit at the end of the third quarter in part because the Spurs gave up the ball five times in the final four minutes.
Mills had all three of his turnovers during that stretch. That tied him for the team lead with DeRozan, Dejounte Murray, Poeltl and rookie Devin Vassell.
The abundance of turnovers helps explain how the game was still a game, despite the fact the Spurs shot a season-best 56.1 percent.
jmcdonald@express-news.net
Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN
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