INGLEWOOD — A victory against another top team would have put an exclamation mark on the NBA’s longest current winning streak. Instead, Jaylen Brown and the sharp-shooting Boston Celtics threw a large heap of reality on the Clippers’ feel-good run by handing them a 146-115 defeat on Saturday night.
The 31-point defeat, in front of a packed Intuit Dome, ended a six-game winning streak that began 15 days ago.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said his team played hard but couldn’t match Boston’s speed or shooting.
Boston’s offensive attack was led by its two-pronged scoring tandem of Brown and Derrick White, who torched the Clippers for a combined 79 points. Brown, an NBA Finals MVP and four-time All-Star, tied his career high with 50 points to go with five assists and three rebounds. White added 29 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
The Celtics’ strategy against the Clippers was simple: take care of the ball, shoot 3-pointers and everyone else get out of Brown’s way. He rolled through the Clippers for 19 points on 7-of-7 shooting (3 for 3 from 3-point range) in the third quarter alone as the Celtics took charge with a 42-point period.
The Celtics (22-12) shot 55.2% (53 for 96) from the field overall and connected on 24 of 51 3-point attempts (47.1%), much to the delight of the large contingent of Celtics fans in the arena. Brown shot 18 for 26 overall, while White was 10 for 20. The duo combined to go 11 for 22 from long range.
“They have great shooting, they play at a high pace, so you can’t get back, you can’t get matched up and they played well tonight. I give them credit,” Lue said.
“They got off to an early lead; we just had to do so much to get back into the game. It was tough.”
The Clippers (12-22) gave themselves several chances, cutting the lead to single digits at various points, but each time the Celtics came back with big shots or forced turnovers. The Clippers got within 87-82 on a 3-pointer by Kris Dunn with 5:28 left in the third, but the Celtics responded with a 14-8 run for a 104-96 lead.
James Harden said from there the teams were just “trading baskets and the first team that was going to get stops consecutively was going to win the game and they did that.”
“They move the ball, they move their bodies, have flare screens,“ he added. “That allows them to get to the paint and then they got a number of guys that can knock down shots.”
Brown put the game away with nine consecutive Celtics points for a 128-107 lead with 6:15 remaining. He reached 50 points on a floater in traffic with 3:56 remaining.
Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. said it’s difficult to beat a team stacked with shooters. Boston had four other players score in double figures. Anfernee Simons had 15 points, Jordan Walsh had 13 points and 13 rebounds, Payton Pritchard scored 12 and Luka Garza scored 11.
“They shoot the ball at will,” Jones said.
Late in the game, Jones limped off the court after colliding with Pritchard at midcourt. The two were chasing a loose ball when Pritchard fell on Jones’ right leg, the same leg that caused him to miss 17 games.
He is expected to have an MRI on Sunday.
The loss spoiled the return of Clippers center Ivica Zubac, who was back in uniform for the first time in two weeks because of an ankle injury.
Although healthy, Zubac was not in the starting lineup. Lue said Zubac asked to come off the bench in his first game back, but Lue stressed that the move wasn’t permanent.
Zubac suffered a Grade 2 sprained ankle during the first quarter of the Clippers’ victory over the Lakers on Dec. 20 and was expected to miss three weeks. But the 7-footer only missed five games – all during the Clippers’ winning streak, coming back a week earlier than expected.
“Played some and it (ankle) responded well, so I felt I could play,” said Zubac, who finished with four points and seven rebounds in 21 minutes.
The Clippers – who doubled their season win total during their winning streak – needed everyone available to try to extend it against the Celtics. With Brown shadowing him, Kawhi Leonard didn’t match the energy he had during their streak and finished with 22 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field (2 for 8 from 3-point range).
Two days earlier, Brown had asked Boston coach Joe Mazzulla if he could guard Leonard, which resulted in the Clippers star having a modest outing.
“I thought that was an honor to be able to watch a performance like that as a coach,” Mazzulla said.
Harden also struggled and finished with 18 points and 12 assists, while John Collins had 22 points on 9-of-10 shooting, and Jones finished with 19.
The Clippers fell behind quickly and, despite their own strong shooting (50% overall, 15 for 38 from 3-point range), they could never quite catch the Celtics, who couldn’t miss.
“We shoot 50% from the field and 40% from 3 and still lose the game,” Lue said. “They had a terrific game. Their pace and their style, they play hard, fast, they move the basketball and move around the floor. And they made 24 3’s and that’s hard to overcome.”