Celtics Dominate Glass in San Antonio, Move to 5-0 on Trip

Boston’s boarders dominated down by the southern border Saturday night. The Celtics out-rebounded the San Antonio Spurs, 54-35, en route to a 121-111 win, giving them eight straight victories, including a 5-0 start to their six-game road trip.

The 19-rebound advantage was the largest of the season for Boston. It wiped the glass clean on both ends, grabbing 39 defensive boards and 15 offensive boards, the latter of which turned into 23 second-chance points.

Leading the charge was Luke Kornet, who grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. The 7-foot-2 center also tallied 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, grabbed four assists, and was a game-best plus-21 in 31 minutes off the bench.

Kornet entered the game with the leading offensive-to-defensive rebound ratio in the league, grabbing 47 percent of his boards on the offensive end. Dominating the boards like that takes both mental and physical strength. From the mental side, Kornet credited his high school geometry teacher for teaching him all about angles. And from the physical side, he credited his offensive lineman-like style of play.

“Start caring less about yourself physically and just launch yourself into the trenches,” he joked with NBCSB’s Abby Chin in a postgame walk-off interview. “I feel like I’m a left guard basically of basketball. So, I try to take pride in that.”

All jokes aside, Kornet has been a huge presence on the boards throughout the season. His offensive rebounding percentage of 12.6 percent is by far the best on the team and also ranks eighth league-wide.

“He just continues to get better and better,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “He carried us through a tough stretch in the beginning of the season (when Kristaps Porzingis was out), and he continues to make big-time plays for us.”

Many of those big-time plays come when Porzingis is on the court with him. The C’s have been using that double-big combination quite a bit lately, and teams are struggling to combat it.

“It just gives us a different identity,” Mazzulla said. “It gives us a presence offensively and forces the other team to match up with us differently than they would have if only one of them was out there. They’re both dynamic defensively in their own way: KP’s rim protection, Luke’s ability to navigate different matchups and different coverages.”

Porzingis had a strong night on both ends of the glass, as well. He grabbed eight rebounds, including three on the offensive end.

Kornet and Porzingis were two of four Celtics to grab at least eight boards. Jayson Tatum corralled 10 as part of a 29-point, eight-assist effort, and Derrick White snagged eight as part of a 13-point, six-assist performance.

It marked the second time this season that four different Celtics tallied at least eight rebounds. Among the eight Celtics who entered the game, seven grabbed at least one offensive rebound.

On that end, it was Kornet who set the tone. The Korn Dog led the road-dog Celtics to their seventh straight road win, including their fifth of the current road trip. They’ll have a chance to make it a perfect 6-0 trip Monday night, when they close it out in Memphis.