It hasn’t necessarily been the storybook season for Tim Duncan, but once again, the future Hall of Famer flashed his significant upside in leading the San Antonio Spurs to a 104-92 win over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
Duncan scored 25 points on 9 for 15 shooting and grabbed 9 rebounds over 35 minutes of play to key a dominant offensive effort from San Antonio. In support of Duncan, Marco Belinelli, who was mostly filling in for Manu Ginobili, put up an impressive 16-point, 11-rebound, 8-assist effort, and the Spurs were also paced by big games from role players including Boris Diaw (18 points, 4 assists) and Patty Mills (16 points in 20 minutes) to beat up on the undermanned Celtics.
As a team, the Spurs shot 50% from the floor and more than 47% from 3-point distance, but it was the Tim Duncan show from the opening tip and that was more than enough. It always helps when Boston’s “big guns” struggle (Jeff Green shot 4-for-17, for instance), but the better team was clearly the Spurs despite the opposing venue in Boston, and not even Brad Stevens could change that.
The Spurs continue to fly under the radar thanks to Kevin Durant’s emergence and the general effectiveness of the Western Conference, but at 38-15 overall and an impressive 20-7 on the road, the defending West champions aren’t going anywhere.