Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN Team of workers Essayist
BOSTON — From the playoff-like, detail-oriented workforce walkthrough on Saturday to Paul George insisting he play games thru a sore groin shock on the second one night time of a back-to-back, Ty Lue noticed an overly progressive LA Clippers squad hours earlier than going through the Boston Celtics.
In what Lue described as a “measuring stick” recreation, the Clippers led via up to 36 issues and trounced the Celtics, 115-96, at a disenchanted TD Field on Saturday night time.
The Clippers (30-14) are the freshest workforce in basketball, bettering to a league-best 22-4 since Dec. 1. A type of losses used to be an embarrassing 145-108 loss at house to the Celtics on Dec. 23. Life that defeat got here with out an injured Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers have been in search of payback.
Of their maximum remarkable remark win of the season, the Clippers passed Boston best its 2nd loss at house this season.
“The guys were pretty motivated,” Lue mentioned. “… When they came to L.A., they did us pretty bad. So guys were locked in.
“… This used to be a recreation [where] PG, we idea he may well be out, however he sought after to play games to peer the place we’re at. Only a measuring stick in opposition to a superior workforce. We simply sought after to roughly see the place we’re at. We had that on our thoughts.”
Even though the Celtics (35-11) have only lost twice at home this season, both have come consecutively. The Celtics lost to Denver on Jan. 19 and this latest home setback came without the injured Kristaps Porzingis.
The Clippers held the Celtics to 36% shooting and blew the game open with a 21-0 run in the third quarter.
James Harden said it was the Clippers’ best defensive performance of the season.
“Towards a workforce that used to be enjoying truly, truly neatly,” Harden said. “Particularly at house. … We nonetheless were given many ways to progress, however this can be a just right take a look at for us.”
Typically, this might be the type of game that the Clippers would struggle with in the past. It was the second night of a back-to-back after they won in Toronto on Friday night. They are at the start of a grueling trip that will see them play seven games in 11 nights.
George played in that Toronto victory while nursing a groin issue. It would have been easy for the Clippers to hold their star out to be safe, especially against a Boston team that went into the night with the second-best record since Dec. 1 at 21-6.
But the Clippers entered this season saying they needed to take the regular season more seriously. Their stars have avoided lengthy injuries and the Clippers have been handling their business, finding ways to win games even when they aren’t playing their best. Since a 3-7 start, the Clippers are 27-7.
On Saturday, George, Harden and Russell Westbrook combined to shoot 9-for-31. George scored 17 points but Harden had only nine points and Westbrook scored just four.
But defensively, the Clippers challenged shots, holding Boston to 22-of-75 shooting in the first three quarters. The Celtics got 21 points from Jayson Tatum however Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday combined to shoot 5-for-24 and score a total of 15 points.
Leonard, who made 10-of-15 shots and finished with 26 points, agreed with Harden that the Clippers’ played outstanding defense. But the two-time Finals MVP is focused on taking the Clippers to a first-ever NBA Finals appearance.
“I’m glad that we have been in a position to return in and provides the Celtics a loss,” Leonard said. “However it truly doesn’t heartless not anything till you get to the playoffs and also you’re doing the issues we did this night — executing, making photographs, enjoying just right protection.
“It’s good that we had carryover from last night coming from Toronto and winning these back-to-back games. But you got to just keep getting better as the year goes on.”
