BOSTON — There was a familiar face on the San Antonio bench and the usual result on the scoreboard.
With coach Gregg Popovich guiding his defending champions again after a two-game absence, the Spurs beat the Boston Celtics 111-89 on Sunday for their seventh straight win.
“There’s a comfort zone there having him at the helm,” San Antonio forward Tim Duncan said, “good to have him out there and good to hear his voice.”
The Spurs won both games under assistant Ettore Messina while Popovich was out because of an undisclosed minor medical procedure.
Popovich was happy to be back coaching, especially after his team outscored the Celtics 66-40 in the second half after trailing 49-45.
“I don’t know what else I would do,” he said.
The Spurs were led by Danny Green with 18 points, Boris Diaw with 15 and Duncan with 14. They got a surprising 13 points ”“ including a 3-pointer to beat the 24-second buzzer in the fourth quarter ”“ from 6-foot-10 Aron Baynes. He’s been filling in for Tiago Splitter, who has missed 15 of the Spurs’ 16 games because of right calf problems.
“It’s of major importance, so Timmy doesn’t have to get too many minutes,” Popovich said. “I don’t know about Tiago’s situation. We’re very confused by it, but Baynsie is saving us.”
The Celtics were led by Jeff Green with 16 points and Evan Turner with 12 as they dropped to 1-7 in their last eight games.
Boston coach Brad Stevens said his players seemed discouraged in the fourth quarter, a tough stretch for them all season, when they were outscored 33-16 on Sunday.
“That has to be something where you have the toughness to say, ”˜Hey, something goes wrong, I’m going to make the next one right,” he said.
Leading 80-77 with 10 minutes left, the Spurs went on a 14-2 run to take a 94-79 lead with 6:11 left on a layup by Cory Joseph. After Jeff Green made a free throw for Boston, cutting the lead to 94-80, Baynes hit his 3-pointer and a layup for a 99-80 lead.
In the second half, “we took care of the ball,” Duncan said. “We just weren’t solid in the first half on so many different levels.”
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