The Celtics had their worst offensive game of the season on Saturday night, mustering just 40 points in the second half of a 100-95 loss to the Spurs at TD Garden.
The Celtics struggled shooting from the field (40 percent) in the setback but their bigger issues came on the margins. Boston has been a top-10 offensive rebounding team this season but grabbed just 17 percent of their misses in the loss, which led to a mere eight second chance points. It was evident the Spurs massive size in the frontcourt with Luke Kornet and Victor Wembanyama helped contain Boston’s crashing.
Boston’s biggest problem though came at the free throw line. The Celtics attempted just four free throws in the defeat, compared to 20 for the Spurs. That total was the lowest mark of the season for Boston and also tied for the second lowest total in franchise history in a game.
“I don’t know if it bothered us,” Derrick White said after the loss about the lack of foul calls. “I don’t think we’ve really -- we shoot the least amount of free throws in the league, so it’s not a surprise, I would say. But I think there’s just some calls that are bigger than others that sometimes get missed. … Just, back and forth game, high level game, and they just kind of made a couple more plays than we did.”
While Jaylen Brown wasn’t shy about ripping officiating after the loss, Joe Mazzulla elected to focus on his own team’s mistakes rather than a lack of whistles going Boston’s way.
“We obviously have to be better at defending without fouling,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, there’s no question about that. We have to do better defending without fouling. I would say out of those 20 free throws, there’s about four or five fouls that you know we have to be able to control, just better at that on the defensive end.”
The Celtics currently rank dead last in free throw rate in the NBA but all eyes will be on Boston next week as they begin a four-game road trip after Brown’s harsh criticism. The Celtics star attempted zero free throws on Saturday night, despite averaging a career-high 7.4 per game this year.
“I’m irate at how they officiated the game today,” Brown said. “If we can’t get to the free throw line and teams are allowed to be physical and bump us off our spots, etc., then it’s hard to win games like that. We shot four free throws tonight and lost the game by four. Not to say that’s the whole game, the whole story. We gotta be better in spots. I gotta be better in spots. But goddam. 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.”