POST GAME LA CLIPPERS - AWAY

Celtics gut out bounce-back win vs Clippers

NBC SPORTS BOSTON By A. Sherrod Blakely January 25, 2018 1:19 AM

LOS ANGELES – The final score doesn’t do justice to what we saw in Boston’s 113-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

There were stretches when the game’s momentum seemed on the verge of swinging towards the Clippers, only for Terry Rozier or Semi Ojeleye or Marcus Morris -- or any other Celtic -- to step up and make a clutch play. And that's why the team’s four-game losing skid is over.

MORE CELTICS-CLIPPERS

Tatum: Feels good to get back on track

“It was good that we battled the way we did. We needed to,” said coach Brad Stevens. “We didn’t do enough the last couple games. It was good to see that response.”

We have seen that brand of basketball from the Celtics this season, but not recently.

So for them, the plan going forward was to deliver a throwback performance to when they gutted out wins on a night-in, night-out basis.

Clippers coach Doc Rivers was not surprised at how well Boston played despite the Celtics coming in having lost four in a row.

“Give them credit,” said the ex-Celtics coach. “You knew they were going to come out after losing last night (to the Los Angeles Lakers) and they did just that.”

Here are the Stars, Studs and Duds from Boston’s 113-102 win over the Los Angeles Clippers which snapped the Celtics’ four-game losing streak while extending the Clippers losing streak to three in a row.

STARS

Jayson Tatum: There was a level of consistent aggression in his game that the Celtics absolutely had to have if they were to win tonight. He finished with 18 points and six rebounds.

Lou Williams: There may not be a bigger all-star snub this year than Lou Williams who has been the runaway leader for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award. He led the Clippers with 20 points and seven assists.

MORE CELTICS-CLIPPERS

Kyrie Irving: Irving impacted the game in several categories all game long before finishing with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.

Celtics free throws: The streak of games with less than 20 free throws made finally comes to an end. On Wednesday, Boston was 21-for-22 from the free throw line which was the first time they made more than 20 in a game since their overtime win against Dallas on Nov. 20. The 30 games they went in making less than 20 free throws, is a franchise record.

STUDS

DeAndre Jordan: He was on a minutes restriction, but he still managed to play enough to make his presence felt at both ends of the floor. Jordan had a double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds.

Terry Rozier: Boston needed someone to lead the defensive/scoring charge off the bench with Marcus Morris starting and Marcus Smart out. Rozier was up to the challenge, scoring 15 points in just 23 minutes of action.

Celtics rebounding: Success on the boards has meant success, period, for the Celtics this season. They were able to out-rebound the Clippers 47-40 which improved their record to 24-0 this season when they grab more rebounds than their opponent.

DUDS

Jaylen Brown: He did a lot of good things defensively, but his shot was off all night. He had nine points on 2-for-10 shooting from the field.

Celtics transition defense: The Clippers were able to get out on the break and score at way too high a clip. Boston, one of the league’s best at limiting fast-break points, allowed Los Angeles to score 21 fast-break points which came on 7-for-12 shooting from the field.

112288

Cs win rebound battle and win another game.  Point well made by Blakely.

Win the rebound battle and win the game. 24-0 this season.

Rebounding is always much more about effort and desire than just overall player height.

Go Cs

Balanced scoring with 5 players in double figures wins games.   This was the model that won all their games during the long winning streak.  Irvings shots were down as well.

112288

Back on track. I like the sound of that.

Just because the Celtics played better as a team without Al Horford and Marcus Smart, doesn't mean that those two are expendable. The team got back to playing Celtics basketball, and when they play like that, they get the win.

There was a lot to like about last night. And you know if I like it Daniel Theis can't be far behind. DT and Baynes did a good job getting more minutes with Horford out. I was surprised when looking at the box score to see Baynes with one more minute played than Theis. Aron played with good, hard energy last night. The two really picked up the slack. All Theis has to do is give more of what he has been giving. You can see him relax and enjoy the game. He will start looking for his shot more and I'm good with that.

Once again Larkin came in and gave good hustle minutes. He didn't have his best stat night but the energy on the court moved upwards with him on the floor. Nader is starting to find himself as well. These guys are the end of the bench but they to are improving as the season winds on.

Did our Rook climb a little bit of that wall last night? This is the way Tatum needs to play. Both J's need to be aggressive and go to the rim more. Both have improved so much this season. More consistent and more able to understand that if they play the game right and let it come to them, they will find success.

We are starting to see the real difference between how IT played and how Kyrie plays. IT is a better, more consistent hero baller. He just is so amazing at what he could do and produce. But Kyrie is a much better all around player, especially on the D end. Both are fun to watch but I can't get over at how hard Kyrie plays and how he makes his team better. Kyrie is fully invested this year.

When Gordon went down five minutes into this season, the Celtics had to regroup. They then went on a 16 game winning streak. They all knew that with one of their start players out everyone would have to pitch in. They did so and it worked. But then things started to stagnate. The C's struggled to integrate Morris into the lineup. Last night, with two key players out the Celtics were forced once again to make the extra pass and find the open man. One of the things that gauges good Celtics roundball is when you see them consistently making one more pass even though the open man can take a shot. Much better way to play, IMO.

We will know more if last nights glimmer harkens a return to winning basketball in a couple of days when the season resumes in Oakland. Very important for the C's to get a win Saturday night. And it shouldn't matter who suits up for the game.

112288 wrote:Balanced scoring with 5 players in double figures wins games.   This was the model that won all their games during the long winning streak.  Irvings shots were down as well.

112288

112288,

I'm completely convinced this has been part of the problem since around Christmas. I think you hit it when you said balance. Though not the only issue, having Irving carry too much of the offense makes Boston much easier to defend. Irving is a fantastic scoring machine, but we have others who need to see the ball more and they haven't. Better distribution and more selective shooting by Irving makes the offense click.

Regards

I agree NY

Best to the family. Will be in touch.

112288

Well Hallelujah Brothers and Sisters!  I would have preferred to have won the Laker game and lost the Clipper game, if I had to lose one of them, but I'll take the W.

Morris is a black hole when it comes to passing but he's a scorer and we sure need scoring.  

Tatum with his first good game in a while.  I hope this gets him back on track.  Even with this 7-16 game he's only shooting 38% over his last 5 games.  I think the thing I like the most is that he took 16 fgas.  Horford was out, Smart was out and he stepped up.  More please!

The Other J didn't have a good game.  It wasn't just his 2-10 shooting that irked me, it was his weak defense on Lou Williams.  He kept losing him or letting him drive towards the rim, which forced Baynes to rotate to help out, which freed up otherwise non-offensive threat DeAndre Jordan a free run to the rim.  Lou Williams is not known as a great passer, although he is having his best year, but he had 7 assists last night.  On one play Brown euro-stepped to 3-4' from the rim, and then blind-passed out to nobody for a TO.  I'm starting to think, from his frito shooting (which is purely mental) and plays like this one and the one where he went up for a shot and was blocked by Wesley Johnson but didn't think of letting the ball drop to avoid the jump ball, that the game is still a little fast for Jaylen.  Jaylen did board well last night, though AND HE HIT HIS FRITOS!  5-6.  Still doesn't get his season-to-date frito % over 60% but you have to start somewhere.  When DeAndre Jordan is shooting a higher frito % than you, man, that's embarrassing.  His stroke last night looked good.  A nice, smooth shot powered 90% wrist/10% arm that went through the rim touching nothing but twine all 5 ftm.  He really, really, really needs to work on his handle over the summer.  If he gets his frito % up to a reasonable % and takes that quantum leap up in ballhandling he will be very tough.  Too big and strong for guards and too quick for forwards, but he has to be able to get past them and for that he needs better dribbling skills.

Daniel Theis wants minutes.  He is just a very solid back up center.  He rotates well, he sets good picks and has excellent instincts for shot blocking.  He had 2 last night.  He was also 2-3 from 3.  That is both good and bad.  It's good because, well, it's good he can shoot from there.  It's bad because we already take to damn many 3s and this will encourage him to take them and for Brad to tell him to take them.  Even without the 3s, though, Theis made an impact.  While Baynes is picking up fouls for bouncing people around like they're so many ping pong balls Theis is swatting shots.  Baynes had a good game last night too.  He picked up a bunch of fouls but he rebounded and hit his shots.  Both our centers had good games in Horford's absence.  That's pretty impressive considering they were up against another brute in DeAndre Jordan and against the mobile and skilled Blake Griffin.  

SEMI!!!!  3-5, 2-3 from 3, 5 boards in 18 minutes and fighting Jordan and Griffin in the trenches.  He picked up 5 fouls too, like Baynes, but still the best game from Semi in a while.




A poor shooting night for Larkin, 2-9, but he floor generaled well and was a pest on defense as usual.  He had two very, very nice pnr passes to Theis and then a drive and dish to Rozier for a 3.  Our offense is SO much more effective when we are touching the paint.  It can be on a drive or setting up in the low blocks or whatever, but when we touch the paint we force the defense to respond and that opens up a shooter.  When we don't touch the paint we just go round the horn and sometimes that frees a shooter and sometimes it doesn't.  Today's defenders are so quick they can recover fast.

Nader with a good, short 7 minute stint and even Jerrell Eddie with a cameo.  I found it interesting that Eddie didn't just chuck the ball at the rim the first time he touched it.  Shows some poise by him.  

Lou Williams had a high volume-low efficiency 6-18 game.  I don't see his poor fg% as due to Jaylen Brown's defense.  He left a lot of shots short at the rim after getting into the paint, which he should not have been able to do in the first place.  Maybe some of you disagree?

Brad has been showing more and more frustration over the past week or two.  I'd be furious if I was him but it's unusual for him.  He was NOT happy with Jaylen a couple of times last night, and it was obvious, and he even got T'd up.  How many technicals has Brad Stevens gotten in 4+ years?

Here it is:



Overall, we had 92fgas, which is excellent, and/but we took 40 3pt fgas.  So many.  I know it's The "New NBA" and all that but it drives me crazy.  I think the league should eliminate corner 3s.  The 3pt arc should start at the break.  That would solve that annoying habit of players to run a fast break with the trailer on the break running to the corner instead of to the front of the rim.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400975455













bob




.

Rozier spent some time guarding Williams and did a better job than Jaylen. Brown definitely needs to improve his handle and court vision. Broussard's conclusion that IT was merely a product of Stevens' system when he has played a handful of games after undergoing hip surgery is BS , like most of what he writes . I guess it was the system that scored 50+ in a playoff game. Suppose Gordon Hayward struggles his first 10 or so games back. Does that mean his prior success was a product of the Jazz system? The bench was extremely productive last night. Some of that came from the revved up offense behind Larkin and Rozier. I'd like to see one of them paired with Kyrie more often. He's the only one of our starters who can consistently penetrate, which may be a reason our offense stagnates so often.

112288 wrote:I agree NY

Best to the family.  Will be in touch.

112288

Hi to all there as well.

This was a much needed victory to help get them back on the right track.

I was impressed with their 93-79 FGA advantage. I like seeing Theis play 23 minutes. It was also nice to see Semi finally make a few shots. Did you notice where he hit those 3 pointers from? It was not in the corner. Coach really likes Semi's defense and energy but he has to also score to get minutes.

The Celtics got solid contributions from everyone.

Next up The Warriors on Saturday.

dboss

dboss wrote:This was a much needed victory to help get them back on the right track.

I was impressed with their 93-79 FGA advantage.  I like seeing Theis play 23 minutes.  It was also nice to see Semi finally make a few shots.  Did you notice where he hit those 3 pointers from?  It was not in the corner.  Coach really likes Semi's defense and energy but he has to also score to get minutes.

The Celtics got solid contributions from everyone.

Next up The Warriors on Saturday.

dboss

Dboss,

 It was also nice to see Semi finally make a few shots.  Did you notice where he hit those 3 pointers from?  It was not in the corner.

Semi was 1-2 at the rim and 2-3 from the right side above the break.


bob


.

bobheckler wrote:

dboss wrote:This was a much needed victory to help get them back on the right track.

I was impressed with their 93-79 FGA advantage.  I like seeing Theis play 23 minutes.  It was also nice to see Semi finally make a few shots.  Did you notice where he hit those 3 pointers from?  It was not in the corner.  Coach really likes Semi's defense and energy but he has to also score to get minutes.

The Celtics got solid contributions from everyone.

Next up The Warriors on Saturday.

dboss

Dboss,

 It was also nice to see Semi finally make a few shots.  Did you notice where he hit those 3 pointers from?  It was not in the corner.

Semi was 1-2 at the rim and 2-3 from the right side above the break.


bob


.

Having watched him in college and with the Celtics he shots better when he is not taking corner threes. That is a shot that he needs to perfect.

dboss

Rebounding is still a basic part of the game that must be executed at a high enough level to win.

dboss wrote:

bobheckler wrote:

dboss wrote:This was a much needed victory to help get them back on the right track.

I was impressed with their 93-79 FGA advantage.  I like seeing Theis play 23 minutes.  It was also nice to see Semi finally make a few shots.  Did you notice where he hit those 3 pointers from?  It was not in the corner.  Coach really likes Semi's defense and energy but he has to also score to get minutes.

The Celtics got solid contributions from everyone.

Next up The Warriors on Saturday.

dboss

Dboss,

 It was also nice to see Semi finally make a few shots.  Did you notice where he hit those 3 pointers from?  It was not in the corner.

Semi was 1-2 at the rim and 2-3 from the right side above the break.


bob


.

Having watched him in college and with the Celtics he shots better when he is not taking corner threes.  That is a shot that he needs to perfect.

dboss

He did the same thing in summer league, miss from the corners and hit from the top.