At 4:30 a.m. Beijing time on December 24, the NBA regular season ushered in a matchup between the favorite teams in the Eastern and Western Conference, and the Celtics challenged the Clippers away. The Celtics haven't had to go through a lengthy run-in period this season after upgrading their role roster, and Porzingis and Holiday are a perfect fit for the duo of Tatum and Brown. After the big win over the Kings, the Celtics' record has improved to 21-6, ranking first in the league, and the Celtics are ranked in the top 5 in the league in terms of efficiency on both offensive and defensive ends.
In order for the Clippers to integrate Harden into the team's tactical system as soon as possible, Leonard and George have missed no more than 2 games so far this season. And this high attendance also allowed the Clippers to quickly get back on track, and after a wave of nine straight wins, Leonard missed the game against the Thunder due to a hip problem, and the Clippers ended their winning streak. But the team still sits in 5th place in the West with a 17-11 record. And in this game against the Celtics, Leonard will continue to be absent. The Clippers rank first in the league in offensive efficiency in their last 10 games, and it's worth mentioning that the Celtics are second in action. The Clippers' overall defense is similarly excellent, with an efficiency rating of 1125, ranked 9th in the league. The starting lineups for this game were played by the Celtics, who used Tatum, Brown, Holiday, White and Horford. The Clippers fielded George, Harden, Zubac, Kofe and Mann.
At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Celtics Brown and Horford hit three-pointers one after another, Clippers George scored 12 points in a row with two three-pointers, and Harden broke through and scored a layup. Celtics Holiday broke through and scored, White hit a solid three-pointer, and then scored a layup. In the final period, Celtics Tatum stepped up to take over the game and hit two three-pointers in a row to score 10 points. And Wei Shao made multiple iron errors, and only Kobe Brown hit a three-pointer in nearly four minutes. At the end of the first quarter, the Celtics led the Clippers by seven points at 28-21.
In the second quarter of the game, Powell of the Clippers broke through and scored, and Harden connected with Theis to win the air relay dunk. Celtics Brown scored 4 points with consecutive attacks on the basket to make kills, and Brissett and Holiday hit 2 three-pointers from the outside. The Clippers Harden also hit 2 three-pointers in a row from the outside, however, the two sides continued to fight on the outside, Pritchard, Hauser, Brisset hit 3 more three-pointers, and Tatum continued to fire with 3 three-pointers in a row. The Celtics went on an 11-2 run to stretch the margin to 21 points. In the last 2 minutes, Zubac scored 4 points in a row under the basket, and Harden and Powell scored one after another. However, Celtics Brown hit a three-pointer to hold the lead again. At halftime, the Celtics led the Clippers by 17 points, 68-51.
In the halftime statistics, Tatum had 21 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist on 7-of-11 shooting. Brown finished with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists on 4-of-8 shooting. Holiday finished with 10 points, four rebounds and six assists on 4-of-7 shooting. White had 5 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Brissett 6 points. For the Clippers, George scored 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Harden finished with 10 points and five assists on 4-of-9 shooting. Zubac had 10 points and eight rebounds. Kobe Bryant = Brown 6 points and 2 assists. Powell 5 points.
In the second half, Harden opened the scoring with a breakaway, but the Celtics reacted quickly. White responded with a three-pointer first, and Brown followed up with seven straight points. George of the Clippers got a knife on the outside, and Zubac and Kofe scored in quick succession. But the Celtics' offense did not decrease at all, Holiday scored 10 points in a row with two unreasonable three-pointers from the outside, and Tatum scored nine points with six free throws from the paint. After half a quarter, Wei Shao's offense finally picked up, and he continuously promoted the fast attack counterattack to score 10 points. Theis also seized the opportunity from an open three-pointer from the outside. At the end of the third quarter, the Celtics led the Clippers by 25 points, 106-81.
In the final quarter, Brown scored a mid-range jumper and then broke through with White to make a foul. The Clippers bench Theis made it 2+1 under the basket, and Wei Shaoqiang also scored. But Celtics Pritchard hit two three-pointers in a row, and White continued to fire from the outside, breaking through and making five more free throws to score 10 points to kill the game directly. In the end, the Celtics defeated the Clippers by 37 points, 145-108!
In the game, Tatum scored 30 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists on 9-of-16 shooting. Brown finished with 24 points and six rebounds on 9-of-17 shooting. Holiday finished with 20 points, six rebounds and seven assists on 8-of-12 shooting. White had 18 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Keita had 14 points and 12 rebounds. On the Clippers' side, George had 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists on 9-of-17 shooting. Zubac had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Harden finished with 14 points, four rebounds and nine assists on 6-of-13 shooting. Theis 15 points. Wei Shao had 12 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists on 4-of-11 shooting. Powell 7 points.
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