National Basketball Association
Preview
San Antonio at Boston
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Where: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

Scoring depth has helped the Celtics build one of the best records in the NBA. The San Antonio Spurs will have to deal with that Wednesday when they visit Boston in each team's final game before the All-Star Weekend.

Jayson Tatum (26.9 points per game), Jaylen Brown (22.9) and Kristaps Porzingis (19.1) are Boston's leading scorers, but lately Sam Hauser has also been providing some strong shooting performances.

Hauser, who typically comes off the bench, scored 15 points -- all on 3-pointers -- during Monday's 103-85 victory at Miami.

"When you see the first one go in, sometimes the rim looks a little bit bigger after that," Hauser said. "I guess you could say that's the reason I made some (against Miami)."

Hauser hit 34.1 percent of his shots from behind the 3-point arc through his first 16 games this season, but has made 44.5 percent of his attempts in 29 games since then. He'll enter Wednesday's game averaging 7.6 points in 19.9 minutes per game, shooting 40.5 percent from downtown.

He struggled through back issues early in the season.

"Just feeling better overall in general in terms of my body," Hauser said. "I think that's the biggest part. ... It's been going pretty well. I've been feeling a lot better."

Boston has won six of its last seven games overall, but has lost three of its last four at home. The Celtics have a modest 16-10 record in home games.

San Antonio will bring a strong 1-2 scoring punch into Wednesday's game with Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox. Wembanyama is averaging a team-high 24.4 points a game, and Fox is averaging 21.3 points in four games for the Spurs since he was acquired from the Sacramento Kings in a three-team trade on Feb. 3.

Wembanyama scored 31 and Fox had 30 in Monday's 131-121 victory over Washington.

Fox said his on-court chemistry with Wembanyama is getting better with each game.

"It's definitely evolving," he said. "A lot of the way I get guarded is a bigger wing, someone who's long, someone who's probably going to switch on to Vic. Then if I do have a small, which doesn't happen too often, they get to switch (onto) Vic, we throw it to him and he does what he does.

"We're trying to develop that chemistry, trying to develop that two-man game, and obviously we're not leaving guys out because I feel like both of us are able to make that kind of pass. ... It's a learning process. It's the (fourth) game for us and we haven't had a true practice yet because we've been on the road. We're continuing to learn."

This will be the first of two games between Spurs and Celtics during the regular season. The teams will also meet in San Antonio on March 29.

After Wednesday's matchup both teams will be off until Feb. 20.

--Field Level Media

Stats and Records
Team Comparison
  W/L Strk Home Away Day Night Div Conf
San Antonio 23-28 W1 13-13 10-15 0-3 23-25 2-7 16-18
Boston 38-16 W2 16-10 22-6 5-2 33-14 7-2 28-9
Last Meeting
San Antonio Boston
Date Away Home Pts Reb FG% Pts Reb FG%
1/17/24 SA 98 BOS 117 98 41 41.9 117 54 46.7
Player Stats
Previous Matchup
Points Player Total FG% FTM
San Antonio V. Wembanyama 27 52.6 5
Boston J. Tatum 24 42.9 3
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
San Antonio J. Sochan 7 3 4
Boston L. Kornet 9 3 6
Assists Player  
San Antonio T. Jones 11
Boston J. Brown 5
Season
Points Player Total FG% FTM
San Antonio V. Wembanyama 1118 47.3 160
Boston J. Tatum 1443 45.2 270
Rebounds Player Total Off Def
San Antonio V. Wembanyama 509 83 426
Boston J. Tatum 463 34 429
Assists Player  
San Antonio C. Paul 430
Boston J. Tatum 304
Quickchart Matchup
San Antonio San Antonio Off vs  Boston Boston Defense
San Antonio Off vs Boston - Points For 113.2 Points For
San Antonio Off vs Boston - Points Against 108.2 Points Against
San Antonio - FG% 46.2 FG%
Boston - FG% 45.0 FG%
San Antonio - Reb 45.1 Reb
Boston - Reb 44.4 Reb
Boston Boston Off vs  San Antonio San Antonio Defense
Boston Off vs San Antonio - Points For 117.2 Points For
Boston Off vs San Antonio - Points Against 114.4 Points Against
Boston - FG% 46.0 FG%
San Antonio - FG% 46.4 FG%
Boston - Reb 44.9 Reb
San Antonio - Reb 45.9 Reb