The Spurs, missing their best player in Kawhi Leonard, were outworked and outplayed by a hungry Boston Celtics squad led by Kyrie Irving with solid contributions from Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier to put the game out of reach late. Brandon Paul had a solid effort for the Spurs but the lack of interior defense from the Spurs led to too many easy buckets for the Celtics for the Spurs to contend seriously.
After both teams struggled to score to start the game, Aldridge scored the first points of the game for the Spurs, and Aron Baynes answered immediately.