San Antonio earned a 100-95 win in Boston despite 23 percent shooting from three-point range on Saturday.
The San Antonio Spurs met their second-place counterpart from the Eastern Conference in the Boston Celtics on Saturday night at TD Garden, and playing in another big-time matchup yielded a similarly positive result with the Spurs coming up clutch late in a 100-95 victory that overcame awful three-point shooting.
Making just 10 of 44 three-pointers in the game, San Antonio managed to stay within striking distance the whole way, with the final turning point being a two-point lead with two minutes remaining off of, you guessed it, a three made by Keldon Johnson.
Julian Champagnie, who impressively posted a 12-point 13-rebound double-double, stretched the lead to four with 40 seconds left before a Boston timeout.
Derrick White and Jaylen Brown combined to score 56 for Boston, with two coming as an answer on a pair of free throws by White to slice the Celtics deficit to two.
Victor Wembanyama, again coming off the bench for San Antonio, responded with a midrange jumper to push it back to two possessions with less than 10 seconds left to seal the win.
Wemby ended with a team-high 21 points in 26 minutes along with six rebounds and three blocks.
Luke Kornet returned to his old arena with a touching tribute video and applause from the often ruthless Bostonians. His two free throws put the cherry on top of a thrilling finish to a hard-earned road win.
As San Antonio shot just 6 for 27 from distance in the first half, the Celtics were able to build a lead as large as nine by making more threes in less attempts.
Entering this meeting in Boston, the Spurs had been on a stretch of 27.6 percent three-point shooting over the last seven games, where San Antonio was 3-4 in that span but 11-4 over the last 15 games overall.
De'Aaron Fox surpassed 12,000 career points and was the catalyst for most of the Spurs offense throughout. He finished with 21 points on nine-of-16 shooting, but a 1-6 mark from downtown. San Antonio's typical perimeter leaders Fox, Champagnie, Stephon Castle and Harrison Barnes combined to shoot 5-26 from three-point range.
Yeah, the shooting slump continued, but it's another quality win over a contending team for this young Spurs roster that continues finding ways to win to surge in the right direction.
The February 5 trade deadline is approaching, and while San Antonio is not pressured to make a move whatsoever, the continuation of this shooting slump pins perimeter shot-making as one glaring need the team could address through a trade.
However, the maturity showed on Saturday to overcome an early deficit and defeat one of the beasts in the East suggests that standing pat at the deadline is a safe decision.
San Antonio, now 27-11 and second in the West, has won back-to-back after dropping four of its last six. That momentum will be crucial as more tough matchups against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder and Milwaukee Bucks await.
