Three Spurs players score 18 each in valiant comeback loss to Celtics

After defeating the Detroit Pistons Friday night at home, the Spurs looked to finish this back-to-back homestand with a win vs the Boston Celtics. They would have to do so without Keldon Johnson, Jakob Poeltl, and Devin Vassell. Jakob was out due to left Achilles bursitis, Devin is going to have arthroscopic surgery on his knee, and Keldon suffered a hamstring injury against the Pistons. The Celtics would grab the lead first and never look back; well, that is until late fourth quarter. The Spurs went on a late 15-4 run to climb all the way back from 15 points down with a Josh Richardson clutch three that tied the game at 116 apiece with 37.4 seconds remaining in the game. Jayson Tatum on the next play scored a one-footed fadeaway jumper over Romeo Langford, and that ended up being the go-ahead bucket for the Celtics’ victory as the Spurs lost 121-116.

There were eight Spurs players in double figures, including three of them who scored 18 points each: Tre Jones, Zach Collins, and Josh Richardson.

J-Rich finished with 18 points, four assists, three rebounds, two blocks, and a steal off the bench.

Here he is swatting Sam Hauser’s layup attempt out of bounds. Do not go in there.

The absolute play of the game for the Spurs. J-Rich hits a clutch game-tying three with 37 seconds left in the game.

Tre finished with 18 points, five assists, five rebounds, and a steal.

Here he sinks the nice jumper off the screen from Collins.

Zach finished with a double-double: 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists in this one.

Here he is squaring his feet up for the free-throw line jumper over Robert Williams.

Cleanup on aisle 23! Zach cleans up the Keita Bates-Diop miss with an easy putback slam.

Romeo Langford got the Spurs on the board with a nice finish over Jaylen Brown. He finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and an assist.

KBD drives and finishes under the basket over Al Horford. He got the start in place of the injured Johnson and finished with four points, four rebounds, a steal, and a block.

Jeremy Sochan shows off the range from three here. He finished with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

Stanley Johnson knows how to make the most of his opportunities so far this season. Here he drives to the basket and finishes the and-one over Williams. He finished with 10 points, four rebounds, and two assists in only 12 minutes played off the bench.

Doug McDermott hits a walk-in three here off the dime from J-Rich. He finished with 13 points, three rebounds, and an assist.

If the J-Rich game-tying three wasn’t the play of the game, this is a good replacement. J-Rich finds Sochan The Destroyer on the alley-oop!

The AT&T Center was rocking even in the loss. These young Spurs know how to fight to the very end. Anyways, here are the full game highlights.