Game 35: Los Angeles Clippers @ Boston Celtics : Dec 29 4:30 PM PCT

[MartinToVaught]

What's it going to take for Lue to stop playing Winslow? He isn't good, period.

[TheNewEra]

Here comes Brown

[Max Headrom]

Watching this game one thing is clear for Boston. There should be no doubt who the first option on that team is and should be no struggle for that position like the stories say. Brown is NOT that guy and needs to be the B to Tatum's A.

[TheNewEra]

Close battle

[nickhx2]

oh that's an awful hit to williams. i'm surprised that doesn't happen more often. hope he's ok

[LamarWho]

Offensive rebs biting us in the rear end again.

[Clemenza]

What are we doing? Just run plays for Kennard and Morris from here on out

[TheNewEra]

We are a really bad rebounding team if our bigs are pulled out the paint

[MartinToVaught]

Bledsoe is unwatchable.

[TheNewEra]

Anything but Bledsoe iso

[Max Headrom]

Much needed win. Guess Lue pushed the right buttons tonight, amirite?? Lol

[Clemenza]

Good win. If the covid bug can subside we'll be alright until one of our stars comes back

[KL2]

That was a very inspiring game from everyone. Against an extremely talented Boston team and tough atmosphere.

Game ball to all.

[MartinToVaught]

A win's a win, and every win is especially huge with how depleted we are... but good lord, between our nonexistent rebounding and all the bricks that the Celtics were chucking from three, that was one of the ugliest games I've seen in a while. It felt like a game from 1993, not 2021.

[og15]

Horford definitely bailed the Clippers out that last play, not sure how he expected to get away with bodying up and getting two hands on the offensive player, well I understand why he thought he could, but bad decision. These late game situations are tough because the defense is locked in trying to force iso, and the Clippers don't particularly have anyone that's quite good at iso at the moment.

Games are won in multiple ways though, and they did enough on defense against the also hobbled Celtics to pull it off. Offensive rebounds helped too.

Morris is earning his paycheck. Like I mentioned in the previous game thread, he's currently the best scorer on the roster with all the people that are out, need at least someone that can get up shots (and make a good amount of course). Good balanced offensive attack, obviously there isn't much on the bench since those guys are all starting to expect too much bench production consistently.

[og15]

We are a really bad rebounding team if our bigs are pulled out the paint

That's one of the other advantages of pulling bigs out, outside of taking away rim protection. Celtics also bricked so many shots, especially from 3PT (4/42) that allowed a lot of available rebounds to grab on offense for them.

[LamarWho]

What an ugly game but hey, it's a win. Anything win feels so precious these days.

The fact that Boston shot 4 for 42 from 3s, but still in the game until the last min, tells you how terrible both teams played.

[Wammy Giveaway]

The Clippers had another 2-game skid, with another threat of a 3-game losing streak looming on the horizon. But it would have been the worst one of them all - it would have put them under .500, making them a lottery team with the chances of missing the playoffs all but certain.

This was more of an ultimatum win than a good win. A good win would mean a wire-to-wire run where the lead was always at least 10 PTS or greater; didn't matter if the opponent had a powering run. Mann brought up something very interesting in one of his most recent pressers, about needing to have big leads from the get-go because they don't have Leonard or George to be their closers (ironically, Mann has to be a closer too). This is a team that just isn't meant to win games via Sudden Death Shots as we saw most recently with the Thunder buzzer beater, so their only hope to win games is to get a huge lead in the 1st quarter, then score only when the margin is shrinking, a sort of "so close yet so far" psychological tactic. It can work - their defense would have to be beyond elite, more like legendary for their psych out strategy to work.

[esqtvd]

Bledsoe a team-best plus+24

all the G-Leaguers were in the minus

Coffey a not-bad plus/minus-0 in a desperately-needed 28 minutes
we probably lose if we have to play Winslow or some of the others

Winslow-Moon-Keon a combined 1-for-11

[nickhx2]

kind of a really weird game, right?

morris was awesome. bledsoe is balling(!). and mann and kennard both showed up, and when that happens we just always have a shot to win.

could've been a much more comfortable win but serge was playing super carelessly, and winslow was awful as well.

i liked that lue brought keon johnson in pretty early, but ended up leaving him out because he wasn't doing much and the game was too close the rest of the way. really glad for amir coffey - i seriously thought this dude wasn't gonna make the team after his SL showing but he's just consistently there, doing solid things, and not making a whole lot of mistakes. exactly what you want out of a reserve player.

this team needs to just fight for its survival and keep hanging in there until reinforcements come. soon enough jackson and batum will be back and we'll all start feeling a lot more comfortable from game to game.