BOSTON — As well as they have played for most of the season, the Celtics have proven susceptible to losses to inferior opponents. They’ve lost to the Magic three times. More recently, they lost to the Rockets, the worst team in the Western Conference. Those defeats may be pivotal in the race for the No. 1 seed.
But in returning home for the stretch run of the regular season, the Celtics have seemed to turn on their focus. They took care of business over the Pacers in their first game after a long road trip, which is routinely a more challenging game than lets on. On Sunday, they didn’t have Jayson Tatum, but that was hardly an excuse against the lottery-bound Spurs.
After falling behind early, the Celtics went on a run and never looked back. Jaylen Brown scored 41 points with 13 rebounds, Malcolm Brogdon had 20 points and nine assists and Derrick White had 19 points on four 3-points against his former team. Not even another Marcus Smart ejection could rattle the Celtics as they cruised to an easy 137-93 victory over the Spurs for one of their most dominant wins of the season.
