Boston Celtics (30-13) at Los Angeles Clippers (24-18) Game #44 1/22/25

The Celtics continue their West Coast trip with a stop in Los Angeles to take on the Clippers.

The Celtics continue their road trip with at stop at the Intuit Dome to take on the Los Angeles Clippers. This is the second stop on their 4 game road trip that began with a 40 point win over the Golden State Warriors. This is the second and final meeting between these two teams this season. The Celtics won the first game 126-94 in Boston on November 25th in Kristaps Porzingis’ first game of the season.

The Celtics and Clippers tied the series 1-1 last season with each team winning on the road. The Celtics are 94-47 overall all time against the Clippers and they are 45-29 when playing in Los Angeles. This is the first of back to back games. The Celtics will play the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday. They are 5-2 in the first of back to back games and they are 2-0 when the first game is on the road.

The Celtics remain 2nd in the East, but are falling further behind the first place Cavaliers. They are now 6.5 games behind first place Cleveland. They are 2.5 games ahead of the 3rd place Knicks and 5 games ahead of 4th place Milwaukee. The Celtics are 15-5 on the road and 6-4 in their last 10 games. They are 7-4 against Western Conference teams and are coming off a win in their last game.

The Clippers are 5th in the West, 11 games behind first place Oklahoma City, and 2 games behind 4th place Denver. They are 1 game ahead of the 6th place Lakers and 1.5 games ahead of 7th place Dallas. They are 15-7 at home and 5-5 in their last 10 games. They are 8-2 against Eastern Conference teams and are coming off a loss in their last game after winning their previous 4 games.

The Celtics are playing the 2nd game of a 4 game road trip that will continue with the Lakers back to back on Thursday and then at Dallas to finish the road trip. They then face Houston and Chicago at home before 3 more on the road through New Orleans, Philadelphia and Cleveland. Then one game at home against Dallas before playing at New York and Miami and home against San Antonio before the All Star Break.

The Clippers are playing in the 3rd game of a 5 game home stand. They beat the Lakers and lost to the Bulls in the first 2 games and will face Washington on Thursday in back to back games and close out the home stand against Milwaukee. They then have a 4 game road trip through Phoenix, San Antonio, Charlotte and Toronto before 4 games at home against the Lakers, Indiana, Utah and Memphis. They will go on a 7 game road trip after the All Star Break.

Originally, the Celtics had no one on the injury list but since then, they have added 3 rotation players. Porzingis (illness) and Horford (toe) are both questionable. Since the Celtics have back to back games, I’m assuming that one of them will be out but it’s possible that both sit this one out and play on Thursday. Jrue Holiday is also listed as questionable with a shoulder injury. If all 3 are out, I’m guessing that Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta will start and Derrick White will move to the point.

For the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard has been ruled out for injury management since the Clippers are playing back to back also. Ivaca Zubac is out with an eye injury. PJ Tucker is not with the team. Kris Dunn (knee) is out as is Norman Powell (back). Nicolas Batum (finger) and James Harden (groin) are listed as questionable. I have no idea which questionable players will be out and which will play or who will actually get the start in their place. The lineup below is just a guess on my part.

Probable Celtics Starters

Celtics Reserves
Al Horford
Luke Kornet
Payton Pritchard
Neemias Queta
Sam Hauser
Baylor Scheierman
Jaden Springer
Xavier Tillman, Sr
Jordan Walsh

2 Way Players
JD Davison
Drew Peterson
Anton Watson

Injuries/Out
Jrue Holiday (shoulder) questionable
Al Horford (toe) questionable
Kristaps Porzingis (illness) questionable

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla

Probable Clippers Starters

Clippers Reserves
Nicolas Batum
Kobe Brown
Cam Christie
Amir Coffey
Bones Hyland
Terance Mann
Kevin Porter, Jr

Two Way Players
Trentyn Flowers
Kai Jones
Jordan Miller

Injuries/Out
Kawhi Leonard (knee) out
PJ Tucker (not injury related) out
Ivaca Zubac (eye) out
Kris Dunn (knee) out
Norman Powell (back) out
Nicolas Batum (finger) questionable
James Harden (groin) questionable

Head Coach
Tyronn Lue

Key Matchups

Jrue Holiday vs James Harden
Harden is averaging 21.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.1 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. He is shooting 39.4% from the field and 34.4% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 19 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists while shooting 47.1% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to stay with him on defense and defend him for both the shot and the pass. Since both of these players are questionable at this time we may not get to see this matchup.

Derrick White vs Terance Mann
With Norman Powell being ruled out, I’m guessing that Terance Mann will get the start, Mann is averaging 6.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game off the bench. He is shooting 47.8% from the field and 38.3% from beyond the arc. In the Clippers’ first game against the Celtics, Mann finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.

Honorable Mention
Jayson Tatum vs Derrick Jones, Jr
Jones is averaging 9.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He is shooting 50.6% from the field and 34.6% from beyond the arc. Jones appears to be the only starter not on the injured list for the Clippers and they will depend on him to play well in the absence of the other regular starters.

Keys to the Game
Defense – As always, defense is a key to getting a win in this game and in every game. The Clippers average 109.5 points per game (23rd) while the Celtics average 117.7 points per game (4th). The Celtics are 5th with a defensive rating of 109.3 while the Clippers are 2nd with a defensive rating of 107.5. The Clippers have been winning with their defense and if the Celtics want to win this game, they must make defense a priority and they have to put out more effort on defense than the Clippers.

Rebound – The Celtics can’t score if they don’t have the ball. Much of rebounding is effort and desire and so the Celtics must put out the extra effort on the boards to give themselves extra possessions as well as to limit the Clippers fast break opportunities and second chance points. When the Celtics put out extra effort on the boards, it often carries through to other areas of their game. The Celtics average 45.3 rebounds per game (10th) while the Clippers average 44.1 rebounds per game (17th). The Celtics have to work harder on the boards than the Clippers.

Energy and Effort for 48 Minutes – The Celtics have to come out with energy and have to play harder than the Clippers from the opening tip until the final buzzer. 100% effort from every Celtic will be needed to get a win in this one. The Clippers have been playing very well and the Celtics can’t expect to win with less than 100% effort. They have to be the more aggressive team, getting off to a fast start and playing hard right up to the final buzzer with no let up. They will get the Clippers best effort and so the Celtics simply must work harder with no let up.

Take Care of the Ball – The Celtics need to take care of the ball and not allow the Clippers to get steals and fast break points. The Clippers are 2nd in the league with 20.4 points off turnovers per game. The Celtics have to make careful passes and they have to be careful dribbling so as not to give the Clippers easy points and extra possessions.

X-Factors
On the Road – The Celtics are on the road, playing in the Pacific time zone and have the distractions of travel, hotel stays, missing family, and playing in front of a hostile crowd. They have to overcome all those distractions and stay focused on playing as a team and on giving their best effort.

Injuries – The Clippers has an extensive injury list including 3 of 5 regular starters out (Zubac, Leonard, and Powell). A 4th starter is questionable (Harden). They also have a couple of rotation players out. Usually you would expect the other team to get a big win over a depleted roster, but with the Celtics, they seem to play poorly against teams with key players out. They need play like the Clippers are healthy and not underestimate them because they are missing players.

Officiating – I know that I say this every game, but the officiating always can be an x-factor in every game. Every crew calls the game differently whether they call every little ticky tack foul or they let a lot of contact go and let the teams play. Some refs favor the home team and some not so much. The Celtics have got to adjust to the way the game is being called and not let the officiating take away from their focus.

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