The Boston Celtics routed the LA Clippers in their own back garden on Saturday, eventually running out 145-108 victors. Jayson Tatum returned from his absence against the Kings like he’d never left, scoring 30 points in only three quarters as he dominated the Clippers lazy defence. Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, and Derrick White all also added over 18 points to help the Celtics to victory. The Leonard-less Clippers looked depleted as only Paul George managed to surpass 20 points in what was a punishing win for the Celtics.
Boston started another game fantastically dominating the first quarter offensively, Tatum started to dominate, with his emphatic dunk over former Celtic Daniel Theis undoubtedly the play of the game. The Celtics bench, for a consecutive games, had stretches of fantastic play specifically Oshae Brissett and Neemias Queta who provided a great spark. Brissett had 12 points and 3 rebounds and Queta provided 14 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double (with 6 offensive rebounds).
Boston’s terrific three-point shooting was on full show in the second quarter as the Cs went 9/15 from beyond the arc in the period. Jaylen Brown was another positive for the Celtics, as he had 24 points and 6 rebounds to help lead Boston past LA. Brown also led the game in plus-minus with +29.
The third quarter allowed the Celtics to continually extend their lead. Despite Boston’s offensive success the Clippers where their own downfall as many of their key players failed to contribute. The worst of all was young star Terance Mann who scored 0 points on 0/10 shooting (0/6 from behind the arc) as well as a horrific -33 plus-minus. This allowed Boston to further extend their lead as they approached nearly 300 points in two games.
Boston headed into the final quarter with a 25-point lead and continued to exploit the Clippers poor defence. Adding 39 more points to their tally and emptying the bench with over 9 minutes still to play. The Celtics ran away with this one as they’ll be looking to do again in the same building on Christmas day.
After the game Joe Mazzulla had this to say about Boston’s current stretch of play via ESPN: “I do like that we are developing a fast-paced identity and not turning it over. I think at times in the past, we’ve played fast but turned it over so we’re finding a good balance of pace and execution”. Jrue Holiday also commented on the Celtics fantastic performance: “I think when we get out into the open court, we’re a pretty tough team with the type of firepower and the offensive ability we have on this team”. Boston will return to the Crypto.com Arena to play the Lakers on Christmas day looking to continue their hot offensive streak.
By Will C
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