The Spurs defeated the Celtics on the road. Here’s what Wembanyama, Kornet and coach Johnson said postgame.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs beat the Boston Celtics on the road, 100-95. Victor Wembanyama led the team with 21 points in 26 minutes off the bench.
Keldon Johnson finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Dylan Harper scored five points, and Harrison Barnes added six points. Stephon Castle had nine points and five assists. De’Aaron Fox added 21, and Julian Champagnie finished with 12 and 13 rebounds.
Devin Vassell did not play due to injury.
The Spurs are 27-11 and will next visit the Timberwolves on Sunday night.
Here’s a sample of what the Spurs and Celtics said after the game.
Mitch Johnson:
“It’s very valuable when you have a good team with players that have a lot of talent and someone (Luke Kornet) that continuously just fills in the blanks where you need, and he does that quite a bit in a lot of different ways for us, which allows us to be very creative.”
“I think Julian (Champagnie) embodied what we were trying to do and what we been fighting to do more consistently through this stretch in terms of just putting our energy into the right places and not allowing outcomes, results, or shots to dictate that energy.”
Wembanyama:
“I think this one (win) really shows character from us, because I don’t know how long we had the lead. It felt like they (Boston) were playing better basketball than us. It felt like they were winning like the effort medal at some point, but we stayed in there. We fought through it, and we never let their lead get too big.”
“He (Wembanyama) came down the stretch, and that was something we really needed. It’s an incredible thing to have for our team and to be able to just make plays like that. I feel that it’s a big step to be able to have those games and be able to kind of really settle things. I think his ability to sort of take it slow and then just make plays is really important, and he is just kind of growing in that. It allowed us to actually push us over the edge there at the end when we were struggling to find a way.”
Head coach Joe Mazzuola: