Wembanyama scored 21 points in 26 minutes Saturday. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
6 minutes to read
Victor Wembanyama showed his skyhigh potential in limited minutes as the Spurs pulled out a 100-95 win over the Celtics on Saturday.
Here are the takeaways.
Victor Wembanyama changed the game entirely.
Wembanyama’s statline doesn’t come close to telling the story of Saturday’s game — a measly 21 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots in 26 minutes. He wasn’t even particularly efficient: Just 8-for-17 from the floor and 1-for-4 from three.
But when Wembanyama entered the game, the entire tenor changed. The Celtics didn’t look comfortable going to the rim, and they — like every other team in the league — don’t have anyone who can match up with Wembanyama defensively. Jordan Walsh got the matchup at first, coming off the bench behind Hugo González, and Walsh did his best (which was pretty good!). Baylor Scheierman got some run in matchups late.
But Wembanyama’s late baskets showed how futile it can be to try to stop him. He hit one jumper basket over Neemias Queta with Queta as close as he could reasonably hope to be, and then Wembanyama iced the game with a jumper over Scheierman.
Wembanyama is simply too big and skilled to be stopped. The Celtics had to hope that 1) they could outscore the Spurs by enough in the 22 minutes Wembanyama spent on the bench to counteract the minutes he was on the floor and 2) that Wembanyama would miss.
Neither element happened enough for the Celtics to pull out a win on Saturday.
Jaylen Brown is irate.
The Celtics, notably, shot just four free throws, and two came in the closing seconds.
The Spurs, meanwhile, took 20.
A livid Jaylen Brown after the game took the officials to task, guaranteeing himself a hefty fine.
The initial question touched on the way the Spurs defended the Celtics — a crossmatching look that Joe Mazzulla lauded as one of the reasons the Celtics’ offense struggled.
“It was definitely unique trying to protect some of their guys,” Brown said. “They didn’t want to go man. They didn’t feel like they could guard us.”
After taking his subtle shot at the Spurs, Brown got to the crux of the matter.
“I feel like, honestly, they just got away with a lot, and I’m tired of the inconsistency,” he said. “I’ll accept the fine at this point. I thought it was some bulls*** tonight. I think they’re a good defensive team, but they ain’t that damn good. I hope somebody can just pull up the clips because it’s the same s*** every time we play a good team. It’s like they refuse to make a call, then call touch fouls on the other end.”
Brown called out official Curtis Blair and the rest of the crew, saying they were “terrible tonight.”
“They can fine me whatever they want,” Brown said. “But it’s crazy. Every time we play a good team, it’s the same bulls***. Somebody please pull up the clips. I’m irate at how they officiated the game today.”
Brown noted that the Celtics only got four free throws and lost the game by four.
“Not to say that’s the whole game, the whole story. We’ve got to be better in spots,” he said. “I’ve got to be better in spots.
“But goddamn. I’m driving to the basket. I’m physical. I don’t flop. I don’t shy away from contact. I go up strong. I’m athletic. And nothing. Zero free throws tonight. The inconsistency is f***ing crazy. Give me the fine.”
Brown added in response to a follow-up question that he has his “conspiracies” about the officials before he was quickly dismissed by a member of Celtics PR, but the damage is certainly done — Brown will be smacked with as much of a fine as the league can hand out.
Whether the tirade will do anything positive for Brown and the Celtics remains to be seen. He has voiced his displeasure repeatedly this year, and it’s hard to imagine that he is a particularly popular figure in referee circles these days.
Brown seemed to be forcing it.
On the court, Brown was less than stellar. He finished 11-for-28 from the field, and while he grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists, he turned the ball over five times as the Spurs attacked his dribble aggressively — something of a concerning trend, given that the Celtics have succeeded this season in no small part because of how well they have limited their turnovers.
Meanwhile, after making a couple of moonball 3-pointers over Wembanyama in the first quarter, Brown also seemed to get a little caught up in the matchup. There’s a lot of benefit to attacking a shot blocker head on, but there’s also a lot of benefit to making smart decisions as a driver, and Brown’s repeated attempts to recapture the magic of his first two moonballs were less than inspiring.
“Obviously, he’s a special talent,” Mazzulla said of Wembanyama. “He can close the gap on 2-on-1s extremely fast, so they do a good job of keeping him as close to the rim as possible and rotating around.”
Baylor Scheierman had one of his best games of the year.
Despite the late basket by Wembanyama, Scheierman played well in his extended run — in addition to his defense, he was 4-for-5 from the floor and 2-for-3 from 3-point range.
“He’s been amazing,” Derrick White said. “He’s always ready. It’s tough — you never know how many minutes or if he’s going to play, but he’s always ready, and when he comes in, he just does a lot of things for us, and I feel like it’s always a positive segment when he’s out there with us.”
Scheierman is an odd NBA player — coming out of college, he showed promise as a 3-point shooter with some ability to handle the ball and pass. In the NBA, he has shown some promise as a hustling forward with great size who reads the game instinctively as a defender.
“I have a bunch of confidence in myself that I can play at this level and impact the game and play against anybody,” Scheierman said. “Regardless if I played tonight or not or played yesterday or not, that confidence doesn’t change going into the next game. I think just seeing the results of the work I’ve put in has given me that confidence that I know that I can hang out there on the floor.”
Luke Kornet got a nice tribute video.
Prior to the game, Kornet spoke with Celtics reporters and quipped that he was more proud of his off-the-court content than his on-the-court content from his time in Boston, which doesn’t play “as well in an arena,” as he put it. He wondered whether he would get a tribute video before concluding “I’ll be honest, I imagine there’s going to be one. Especially in these times and days. For those potential Hall of Famers like myself, you kind of expect it at a certain point.”
Kornet was correct: He got one, and the Celtics found a great mix of clips. Kornet’s tribute video, which was shown between the first and second quarters, included a few clips of his on-court play, but most of it was focused on his antics — his moose antlers, his dabbing as he ran down the court, his famous butterfly celebration, and several instances of his even-more-famous Kornet Contest. They also, of course, showed clips of Kornet celebrating the Celtics’ championship and hyping up the crowd during the championship parade.
The Celtics are notoriously good at tribute videos. That they captured Kornet’s essence in Boston — as a good player and a champion, but far more memorably, as one of the more shamelessly goofy players you’ll ever see on an NBA court — comes as little surprise.
In the actual game, Kornet finished with five points and seven rebounds. He was -2 in the box score, but he benefitted from a late double-big lineup with Wembanyama in which the Spurs pulled away.
The Celtics have struggled in clutch games
The Celtics are now 8-11 in clutch games this season, with a net rating of -16.3 — 26th in the NBA. Oddly enough, they have the league’s fifth-best true shooting percentage in the clutch (63.7), but their defensive rating is a league-worst 128.2.
The struggles are probably a trend worth monitoring.
What’s next
The Celtics will now hit the road again for four games, starting with a game against the Pacers in Indianapolis at 7:30. They will then have two days off en route to Miami on Thursday before traveling to Atlanta on Saturday.
CeltsSteve
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Jan 11, 2026, 8:19:18 AM (8 days ago) Jan 11
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Brown seemed to be forcing it.
On the court, Brown was less than stellar. He finished 11-for-28 from the field, and while he grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists, he turned the ball over five times as the Spurs attacked his dribble aggressively — something of a concerning trend, given that the Celtics have succeeded this season in no small part because of how well they have limited their turnovers.
========
Yep. He had half of the team’s total (10) against the Spurs. He’s committed 16 TOs over the past three games.
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JB suffering from Tatumitis?? Not because of the TOs as that has always been one of Brown’s issues, but being a tad too ball dominant when you have the better skilled Pritchard and also White to help initiate, and you have a bunch of role players that can shoot well.
The Cs needed to keep the ball moving and be more selective on the drives through contact, especially when you aren’t getting the calls you’re looking for (talking to ya Jaylen). It’s the killer whale/orca pod offensive mentality man - move the ball and seek the weakness man!!
But the 2nd night of a back to back against a defensive stalwart in the Spurs, playing White and Brown 40+ minutes, miscues during the clutch by Brown, and Brown and White both going 0-3 from outside to close the game … any correlations???
But the 2nd night of a back to back against a defensive stalwart in the Spurs, playing White and Brown 40+ minutes, miscues during the clutch by Brown, and Brown and White both going 0-3 from outside to close the game … any correlations???
**********
My recollection is that many of their losses this year came in games when they were outshot dramatically from the free throw line...
Jaylen Brown credited with 54 drives combined in games vs. DEN +SA. Drew 1 shooting foul (1.9% of his drives)
Brown is third in NBA in total drives and gets fouled on 8.9% of treks. Expected shooting fouls over 54 drives would be 4.8.
Brown’s free throw attempts peaked at 8.7
But the 2nd night of a back to back against a defensive stalwart in the Spurs, playing White and Brown 40+ minutes, miscues during the clutch by Brown, and Brown and White both going 0-3 from outside to close the game … any correlations???
**********
My recollection is that many of their losses this year came in games when they were outshot dramatically from the free throw line...
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Jaylen Brown credited with 54 drives combined in games vs. DEN +SA. Drew 1 shooting foul (1.9% of his drives)
Brown is third in NBA in total drives and gets fouled on 8.9% of treks. Expected shooting fouls over 54 drives would be 4.8.
Brown’s free throw attempts peaked at 8.7
Star Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown is not a fan of the whistle that his team got in Boston's 100-95 loss to Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs this past Saturday (Jan. 10) night. But for Celtics point guard Derrick White, it was a handful of high-leverage calls that he feels were missed that were a bigger concern than any potential longer-term issue with the officiating the Celtics may be dealing with.
Asked about the refereeing of the game, and whether Boston was feeling frustrated with their whistle in the loss, the University of Colorado - Boulder alum said "I don’t know if it bothered us."
"I think we shoot the least amount of free throws in the league, so it’s not a surprise, I would say," added White.
"But I think there’s some calls that are bigger than others that sometimes get missed and obviously the one at the end of the half was I was really frustrated about, which cost us two points," he recalled.
"I mean, I don’t know. I don’t think it bothered us this back-and-forth game, high level game, and they just made a couple more plays than we did."
CeltsSteve
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Jan 11, 2026, 9:26:07 PM (7 days ago) Jan 11
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Imagine if the C’s were the beneficiary of this type of whistle:
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Now if he could only yodel, have a vocal range of A1 to D6 and whistle at a very high D6 like Thijs Van Leer of the band Focus, I'd be really impressed.
"The name Whistling Jack Smith, credited on the most commercially successful recording, was a play on the name of the baritone singer of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Whispering Jack Smith.[2]"
"The tune was written by Greenaway and Cook and was originally titled "Too Much Birdseed".[3][2]"
"The whistling on the record was, according to most sources, by John O'Neill, a trumpeter and singer with the Mike Sammes Singers who was known for his whistling skill,[4][5] though other sources credit Noel Walker for the whistling.[3]"
"When it was featured on Top of the Pops, actor Coby Wells was used to mime the whistling, and later toured as the public face of Whistling Jack Smith. Wells' real name was Billy Moeller, a brother of Tommy Moeller, lead vocalist, guitarist, and pianist with Unit 4 + 2.[2]"
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The inconsistency is absurd as Jaylen Brown fumed after the Spurs game and this guy backed up in the video … thanks for redirecting the conversation JB Metz and JB Jaylen Brown!!
