Clippers Make it Look Easy, Dominate Boston 114-90

In the battle for maintaining their 4th seed, the Clippers had a solid outing with their 114-90 win against Boston tonight.  The Clippers looked sharp for more or less the entire night, especially on defense, in comparison to Boston who just looked lackadaisical all game long.  Outside of Isaiah Thomas, they clanked shots all night and their defense left a lot to be desired.

First Quarter: The quarter started off with some trading buckets. Most notably Cp3 started off knocking down some solid shots…  But that changed after a huge Isaiah Thomas block on Cp3.  The Point God seemed noticeably flustered by it, picking up a dumb foul and a technical in the following possessions.  Luckily, JJ Redick was there to keep the Clippers offense rolling. Things were clicking for the Clippers, and they took a 6 point lead into the second quarter.

Second Quarter: Early on in the quarter, there was just some ugly basketball played by both teams.  The 2nd unit didn’t have the flow of the first unit, and the Celtics continued to struggle. Things eventually  around for the Clippers, and they were able to open up a sizable lead behind some hot shooting and sharp defense.  While the Clippers had some issues with rebounding, the Celtics weren’t able to capitalize on these 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities and Los Angeles took a 17 point lead into the half.

Third Quarter: Boston came into the 2nd half with a mission: to build a new house with all of the bricks they were throwing up.  (More on this a bit later).  The Clippers continued to look sharp, but the lead exploded when Jamal Crawford nailed 3 deep 3s.  They ended the quarter up by a nice 22 point cushion.

Fourth Quarter: The game was more or less decided at this point.  Crawford cooled down, but the Celtics never made the run that generally plagues the Clippers.  The starters were able to rest all quarter long and CJ Wilcox and Ayres got some burn.

Side Notes:

Paul Pierce looked a lot better all game long, but unfortunately, he went down in the third quarter after a nice drive to the basket.  He landed on his leg funny, and he did not return to the game.  As of now, it appears to simply be a right ankle sprain.

DeAndre Jordan continued to look like a great offensive threat for the Clippers.  He has clearly gained confidence in the post and at the free throw line, nailing 4 straight free throws in the first half.  Hopefully he can continue his great play when Blake comes back, because man, they can easily be the best front court in the league.

Marcus Smart.  I have to make a sidetone about him, because WOW is his shooting bad.  Don’t get me wrong, he does some good things on the court and he does show a lot of promise on the court, but for as good as his defense is, he is one of the worst offensive point guards I have seen.