Jayson Tatum had a game high 34 points on Friday night and Kemba Walker hit a late jump shot, as the Boston Celtics came up with one of their bigger wins of the season so far with a 119-115 win over the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
The Celtics never led in the first half, and the Clippers got off to a quick start going up 15-4 early and led by 12 after one quarter. Boston (12-9) got within six a couple times in the second quarter, but Los Angeles (17-7) would stretch it out to as many as 16 and had an advantage of 11 at 62-51 at halftime. The guests would take their first lead of the night 74-73 when Grant Williams knocked in a three-pointer with 4:37 left in the third. Overall Boston ended the final 7:34 of the period on a 28-11 run going from down 10 (71-61) to up 89-82 headed for the fourth. The Celts went up as many as nine on two different occasions early in the final quarter. LA fought back themselves and would tie it on a Marcus Morris three-pointer with 5:29 to play. Kawhi Leonard put the hosts back ahead 108-106 with a turnaround jumper over two defenders with 2:46 left. Carsen Edwards put Boston back up though when he was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three foul shots. The Clippers took their final lead of the night 112-111 when Lou Williams knocked down a three with 46.1 seconds remaining. Walker made the game winning shot on a step back jumper with 32.3 seconds showing on the clock. The Celts made 6-6 from the line in the final seconds to pick up the big road win.
Tatum added seven rebounds, two assists, and four steals to his game high point total including 5-10 from the three point line. Boston also played without Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown, and Daniel Theis who usually plays important minutes left with knee soreness and didn’t return after only eight minutes of time. Walker finished with 24 points and four assists. Edwards played a big role scoring 16 points. Tristan Thompson and Williams both had 11 points, with Thompson grabbing seven rebounds. Robert Williams III also got into double digits with 10 points. Leonard had 28 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists to lead Los Angeles in the loss, only their third defeat in their last 14 games. Boston is in Phoenix to battle the Suns on Sunday at 2 p.m.
