A big night from LaMarcus Aldridge powered the San Antonio Spurs to a 115-96 victory over the Boston Celtics (43-31) at the TD Garden on Sunday night.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Spurs, who currently sit in the eighth and final playoff spot. San Antonio is now a half-game behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz for sixth place.
“He played a great game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Aldridge. “He was very aggressive offensively. When we got doubled, he kept the ball. He played a fine game.”
The Spurs were led by Aldridge’s 48 points and 13 rebounds as he easily went to work early and often in the game. DeMar DeRozan added 16 points to go along with 11 assists as San Antonio easily handled the depleted Celtics.
Boston was on the second night of a back-to-back and was without Jayson Tatum and Al Horford. The Celtics were led by Marcus Smart’s 14 points and both Gordon Hayward and Morris added 13 apiece.
The Celtics shot just 20 percent from three-point land as the Spurs led by as many as 22 points in the second half and took liked a completely different team that lost to the Houston Rockets on Friday night.
“We just needed it, Aldridge said of the win. ”It’s winning time. It’s getting close to playoff time, every game is going to have playoff intensity or implications. It’s just a win that we needed tonight.”
UP NEXT:
The Spurs are now 43-31 on the season and will return to the court on Tuesday night when they travel to Charlotte to face the Hornets (34-39) at the Spectrum Center at 6 pm Central Time.
