![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gettyimages-2254419928.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nLuke Kornet NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Celtics Reserves
Anfernee Simons
Hugo Gonzalez
Xavier Tillman
Jordan Walsh
Luka Garza
Baylon Scheierman
2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams
Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Josh Minott (ankle) out<\/p>\n
Spurs Reserves
Bismack Biyombo
Carter Bryant
Dylan Harper
Keldon Johnson
Jordan McLaughlin
Kelly Olynyk
Jeremy Sochan
Stanley Umude
Lindy Waters III
Victor Wembanyama<\/p>\n
2-Way Players
Harrison Ingram
David Jones Garcia<\/p>\n
Injuries\/Out
Devin Vassell (thigh) out
Julian Champagnie (back) questionable
Head Coach
Mitch Johnson<\/p>\n
Key Matchups
Derrick White vs De\u2019Aaron Fox
Fox is averaging 21 points, 3.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He is shooting 46.7% from the field and 34.1% from beyond the arc. Fox is one of the fastest players in the league and the Celtics need to keep him from getting out on the break.<\/p>\n
Payton Pritchard vs Stephon Castle
Castle is averaging 17.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 6.9 assists, and 1.3 steals. He is shooting 48.2% from the field and 26.9% from beyond the arc. The Spurs back court is always a threat to steal the ball and create turnovers. The Celtics have to take care of the ball.
Honorable Mention
Luka Garza vs Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama has been coming off the bench for the Spurs since returning from an injury. He may continue to come off the bench or he may return to the starting lineup. Regardless, both Queta and Garza will need to deal with him. He is averaging 24.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 52.1% from the field and 36.2% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to try to keep him out of the paint and off the boards.<\/p>\n
Keys to the Game
Defense – Defense will always be the most important key to winning games. The Celtics are 15th with a defensive rating of 114.5 while the Spurs are 4th with a defensive rating of 111.8. The Celtics need to defend the perimeter because the Spurs shoot 37 threes per game (17th) and they shoot 35% as a team. They also need to defend the paint as the Spurs average 51.2 points in the paint per game. The Celtics need to make defense a priority and play tough team defense from start to finish and not let up.<\/p>\n
Rebound – The Celtics can\u2019t score if they don\u2019t have the ball, and they will struggle if they give up second chance points to the Spurs. The Celtics are averaging 44.4 rebounds per game (16th) while the Spurs are averaging 46.6 rebounds per game (2nd). The Celtics are going to have to work extra hard on the boards in this game. When the Celtics put in extra effort on the boards, that effort tends to spread to other areas of the game as well.<\/p>\n
Play the Right Way – The Celtics need to move the ball to find the best shot. When they play hero ball and don\u2019t keep the ball moving, the Celtics struggle. But, when they keep the ball moving and move without the ball, they are very tough to beat. They need to focus on playing defense and having each others backs. They need to crash the boards and box out. They need to focus on taking and making good shots. If the 3\u2019s aren\u2019t falling, take the ball to the basket. Play with focus and with energy.<\/p>\n
To 3 or Not to 3 – The Celtics are 2nd in the league, attempting 43.2 threes a game. When they fall, the Celtics are tough to beat. But, when they aren\u2019t falling, the Celtics struggle. If the Celtics aren\u2019t hitting their 3s, they have to go to Plan B and take the ball to the basket or shoot from midrange. If the 3s are falling, great!! If not, go to Plan B. The Spurs are a good defensive team and will try to chase the Celtics off the 3 point line and they need to be ready for that.<\/p>\n
X-Factors
Home Game and Back to Back – The Spurs will likely be feeling some fatigue from travel and being on the road and from staying in hotels and playing in front of a hostile crowd. The Celtics need to take advantage of having the crowd behind them and from playing in the friendly confines of the TD Garden. The Celtics are playing on the second night of back to back games. They have been good so far, going 5-1 in the second game. But, fatigue could come into play down the stretch.<\/p>\n
Officiating – Officiating is always an X-Factor. Every crew officiates differently and teams need to adjust to the way the game is called. Will they call the game evenly or favor the home team? Will they call it tight or let them play? Hopefully we get fair officiating and they let them play and the Celtics focus on playing and not on the officiating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Antonio Spurs (26-11) at Boston Celtics (24-13)Saturday, January 10, 20268:00 PM ETRegular Season Game #38 Home Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,38331,6,969,474,4075,4074,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-528064","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-celtics-game-previews","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-san-antonio","12":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","13":"tag-sanantonio","14":"tag-sanantoniospurs","15":"tag-spurs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115873304355930829","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/platform.celticsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/63\/2026\/01\/gettyimages-2255468096.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0.0050704796673813,100,99.989859040665\")
<\/a><\/p>\n