Celtics 117, Spurs 98: What they said after the game

SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs could not pick up a road win in Boston, losing to the Celtics, 117-98.

Boston outscored San Antonio 40-20 in the second period and connected on 18 three-pointers for the game.

Victor Wembanyama finished with 27 points in 27 minutes of play. Jeremy Sochan had five points and seven rebounds. Keldon Johnson added five points and five rebounds off the bench. Devin Vassell recorded 21 points in the loss while Tre Jones added nine points and 10 assists.

The Spurs are 7-33 on the season and will next visit the Charlotte Hornets on Friday night. Wembanyama says he will sit out that game.

Here’s a sample of what the teams said after the game.

Coach Gregg Popovich:

“They (Boston) came out on fire. We couldn’t make shots. They put their heads down and then your pace goes away your defense sucks blah blah blah. You know they’re young. That happens. Now in that second half, I think we outscored them six or seven points in the second half. But we did the same thing in Atlanta. We got down by 30 (points) maybe 35 and a half and we got to get it back to seven in the second half. So what’s the difference? You know, it’s maturity, youth, and continuing to play. Understanding what it takes, and what your job is night in and night out all those sorts of things.”

Wembanyama:

“Very challenging (losing). Nobody’s like nobody’s putting their head down. Nobody’s giving up it’s crazy, because every game every night is a hell of a battle and it’s very intense.”

Doug McDermott:

“It’s tough. It shouldn’t take a halftime speech or us getting our asses kicked to respond. It should be like that right from the get-go. That’s on all of us to start the game the right way. Try not to have quarters like that. Against really good teams like this, you can’t make those mistakes and let them go on those runs.”

“We just got to play consistent for 48 minutes. Pop (Popovich) preaches that all the time. We know it and we just got to play better. They (Boston) got to a good start. In the first quarter, we were close and in the second quarter, they started knocking down shots. We can’t put our heads down.”

Joe Mazzulla:

Jordan Walsh:

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