BOSTON — The Clippers get smoked 126-94 by the defending champion, Boston Celtics on Monday night. Los Angeles loss the second quarter by 22-points and they didn’t come close the rest of the way. The Clippers are now 11-8 and 1-1 on their four-game road trip. Next up for the Clippers is a Wednesday night matchup against the Washington Wizards.
Here are some takeaways from the Clippers loss to the Celtics:
A second quarter massacre
Some games you want to just figure about and for the Clippers it became that type of game because of the second quarter.
Los Angeles trailed the Celtics 27-20 going into the second quarter as they looked to knock off the defending champions.
The Celtics completely molly whooped the Clippers in the second quarter to take over the game.
Boston won the quarter 51-29 to give them a 78-49 advantage at the half.
The Clippers came in a team who defending the three point shot well but allow the Celtics to make 12 threes in the second quarter alone.
Boston set a new franchise record and tied the record for most threes made in a quarter.
You figured the Clippers were doomed after this period.
Boston gets the best of the Clippers defense
Tonight we saw a matchup between a top five offense with Boston and a top five defense with Los Angels.
Usually defense finds ways to put you over the top but not tonight.
The Celtics offense was firing on all cylinders.
Boston had six players score in double figures led by 20 apiece from Jayson Tatum.
The Clippers could not slow down the Celtics after their amazingly hot second quarter.
The Celtics shot 43.1% from three, knocking down 22 of them against one of the better perimeter defenses in the league.
This was just one of those games for the Clippers defense. Whatever they tired just didn’t work trying to stop Boston.
A failed test
The Clippers had a chance to test themselves to see where they matched up against the NBA’s best and they struggled.
Los Angeles couldn’t stop nor keep up with the Boston Celtics.
Entering the game on a five-game winning streak, the hope was that the Clippers would muggy up the game with Boston and compete. But it didn’t go as planned.
This game showed that they aren’t quite where they would like to be especially without injured players Norman Powell and Kawhi Leonard.
There is a long season ahead but tonight showed the Clippers they aren’t close to the defending champs.