Trip to Texas spurs tough exam
SAN ANTONIO — Three games in four nights. San Antonio, Detroit and Chicago, beginning here tonight against the Spurs.
Marcus Smart called it “a test,” but it’s not the Celtics’ final exam. We’re still a few miles and 15 games away from the midterm, so call this more of a quiz.
The testy thing about this will be a measure of the Celts’ willingness and ability to dig in and beat back not only the given opponent, but the simple grind of the season. It’s been that way in large part since the C’s opened the season with three in four nights in three cities, but now the games are starting to pile up and we’re still a few weeks from Christmas.
The challenge is to the Celtics’ competitive instinct.
And while the goals are still the same from night to night — limit mistakes with the ball, hustle and stay focused within the defensive scheme — the storyline obstacles are different in each of these three games.
The Spurs are still near the top of the Western Conference, even though Kawhi Leonard (quad) has yet to play this season. Though he was listed by the club yesterday as out, there’s some possibility he’ll make his debut tonight. If so, that will give the Celts another headache against a team maddeningly good at exploiting opponents’ mistakes. The C’s took a 10894 win over the depleted Spurs on Oct. 30, but that outcome isn’t expected to be much of an indication of how things will go here.
Sunday at 4, the Celtics will get the opportunity to avenge one of their four losses when they visit the Pistons in their new downtown home.
The next night, the journey finishes in Chicago, and while the C’s clearly will be the superior team at tipoff, the fact this is the last game of a tightly wound trip could creep into the equation.
“It’s a test for us,” said Smart. “It’s definitely a test. We’ve got some good teams on their home court, so you know they’re going to come out with something to prove, and we’ve got to be able to withstand it and not let them affect us. We’ve got to go out there and do what we do.
“Anybody can be beat on any day. It depends on which team comes to play. We’ve definitely got some challenges ahead of us, but that’s the beauty about this game. You get to go out and face those challenges head-on.”
Smart joked about the similarity to the old AAU days, with multiple games in a single day.
“It gets you ready for this, playing all those games,” he said. ‘But it definitely is a grind, but that’s why you do everything in the offseason and during the season to keep your body right and try to stay healthy enough to play.”
Health was an issue Wednesday when Jaylen Brown (eye infection) and Marcus Morris (knee maintenance) were unable to play against the Mavericks. The Celts leaned a bit more on their depth and were able to win that one, 9790, and Brown and Morris were both on the flight here yesterday (they’re listed as questionable for tonight).
But the general NBA uncertainty keeps Brad Stevens focused on the present. As such, he avoids approaching the trip too much as a whole.
“We’re just going to keep playing one minute, one game at a time, preparing the right way,” he said. “You’re always going to have curveballs throughout the season like we did where (Brown and Morris) aren’t available, and you have to have all your guys ready to go.”
Al Horford isn’t looking beyond this evening.
“It’s a big challenge, and we’re aware of it,” he said. “San Antonio’s such a hard place to play. They play really well. We really have to take it a game at a time, but it’s a hard trip. But I think all our focus needs to be on San Antonio and finding a way that we can be great on the road, because they don’t beat themselves.
“We have to be great about shot selection,” Horford added, “because they make you pay on the other end. We have to make sure we move the ball well and then be real solid on defense, because they take advantage of your mistakes. You have to be locked in against them. We did a good job the first time we played them here, but they’re a little healthier now. They have (Tony) Parker back. They may have Leonard back. So we know it’s going to be a lot different.”