Coming off of a blown comeback attempt and loss on the road to the undersized Houston Rockets, the 37-16 Celtics want to end their first half of the season on a strong note, but will have to do so with some adversity on their shoulders in tonight’s interconference matchup. The 37-17 Clippers take a trip to the wintry Northeast to take on another iteration of the hospital Celtics while looking to also end their first half of the season strong as both teams are playing their final game before this weekend’s star-studded shenanigans in Chicago.
These two teams, separated by a lone loss, are both the third seed in their conferences, respectively. And while just in time for the break, Jaylen Brown’s healing of his calf will keep him out of this game, and while Boston will be without his usual 20.2 ppg. off 40.2 percent shooting, it’ll be up to Brad Stevens again to concoct some combination of Gordon Hayward and Grant Williams to substitute his efforts on both the offensive and defensive side of the game. For the rest of that vaunted frontcourt that’s caused troubles in the process of ripping through whatever defensive coverages they see, Jayson Tatum, the first-time All-Star, is looking to bounce back from his subpar shooting night against Houston on Tuesday.
And what better way to improve that characteristic of consistency than to go toe-to-toe with the Clippers’ coveted 2x Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard and a competitive foe in Paul George, who’s always found a way to go back and forth with Tatum in the All-Star’s short three-year career.
Thursday’s contest concludes the season series between the teams after the Celtics fell to the Clippers 107-104 in an entertaining game that ended in overtime in the Staples Center on Nov. 20, and Jayson Tatum led Boston with 30 points in that game while Lou Williams turned on a second gear for L.A. to score 27 points off the bench.
Going into that Houston game earlier this week, Tatum had a streak of nine straight games scoring 20 or more points that was finally snapped with him being held to 15 on 5-of-15 shooting and with a surprise return of Marcus Morris Sr. to the Boston parquet, as he was picked up before last Thursday’s trade deadline in a deal with the Knicks, scoring the ball with a shrunken floor could be a difficult task. But, as the third-best defensive team in the league, it will be interesting to see if Boston can uphold the fort against three of the league’s most frightening scorers in Williams, George, Landry Shamet, and Lou Williams off the bench.
Tip-off for the last televised TNT basketball event until All-Star Weekend is at 8:00 p.m ET.
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