NBA 2018-19: Player Ratings - LA Clippers vs Boston Celtics; Irving gets injured; Tatum disappoints; Harrell impresses
The Boston Celtics took on the Los Angeles Clippers in a tough game at the TD Garden in Boston today.
Match Details:
Boston Celtics (35-21) 112 - 123 Los Angeles Clippers (31-26)
The Boston Celtics had started off the game really well, but a knee injury to Kyrie Irving seemed to have shaken the Celtics. They had a huge 28 point lead over the Clippers at one point in the game, but ended up losing it and went down in a difficult loss for them, just one game after the Lakers rallied from 18 points down to win in Boston.
Montrezl Harrell, who scored 21 points, forced two turnovers in the final two minutes, and Patrick Beverley hit a pair of 3-pointers in front of the Boston bench to help the Clippers pull away. Danilo Gallinari had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Landry Shamet had a great scoring night after being traded from the Philadelphia 76ers, scoring 17 points, 13 of which came in the 4th quarter.
Gordon Hayward scored 19 points and Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier had 16 points apiece in a game that Boston should have won easily. The Celtics followed their highest-scoring half of the season with their lowest-scoring quarter, blowing up their 28 point lead.
Boston scored 15 straight points and finished the first quarter with a 23-point lead, then extended it to 68-40 in the second. The Clippers managed to tie the game at 100 all, prompting boos from the TD Arena, making sure the players know that they are not at all doing well. The Clippers managed to outscore the Celtics 42-26 in the final quarter and managed to take the game in the end.
The Clippers had solid contributions from Ivica Zubac as well, who started the game, scoring 12 points and grabbing 9 boards in just 23 minutes. Shae Gilgeous Alexander, also known as SGA, had a solid outing as well, managing to score 14 points off 5 shots. A bad shooting night from Lou Williams was not to be the downfall of the Clippers, as he shot just 4-15 but still managed 15 points.
Over at the Celtics, a poor night from Marcus Smart, scoring just 2 points off 1-5 shooting, with not a lot of defensive inputs made it a miserable night for the Celtics. Tatum shot badly too, just making 4 of his 12 shots for 16 points, similar to Al Horford, who managed 3 of 11 shooting with just 6 points. Marcus Morris tried to get it going, with 6-14 shooting, going for 15 points as well, along with Jaylen Brown who could only muster 12 points in 24 minutes with 4-14 shooting.
The Celtics would want to put this behind them as they take on the Philadelphia 76ers next in a tough match for them while the Los Angeles Clippers would love to keep this going in their final game of the road trip at the Minnesota Timberwolves.