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Cs Blasted on Get-away Day

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L.A. Clippers 140, Boston Celtics 115

When: 10:30 PM ET, Monday, March 11, 2019
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Attendance: 19,068
Recap for Digital Sports Desk by Field Level Media

LOS ANGELES – Lou Williams scored 34 points to become the most prolific bench scorer in NBA history as the Los Angeles Clippers continued their charge toward the playoffs with a 140-115 victory over the visiting Boston Celtics on Monday.

Lou Williams and the LA Clippers defeated Boston (House of Highlights/Youtube)

Danilo Gallinari scored 13 of his 25 points in the opening quarter, and Montrezl Harrell added 20 points as the Clippers won their fifth consecutive game and improved to 9-3 since their roster was restructured at the trade deadline.

With the victory, Los Angeles moved into sole possession of sixth place in the Western Conference.

Williams, who leads the NBA in points off the bench this season, passed Dell Curry as the highest scoring player off the bench of all time and now has 11,154 as a reserve in his career. Curry had 11,148 points as a reserve.

It was Williams’ eighth game of the season with at least 30 points, all since Dec. 28.

Terry Rozier scored 26 points for the Celtics, who saw their three-game winning streak end. Boston went 3-1 on a four-game road trip, all against California teams. Jaylen Brown scored 22 points, and Kyrie Irving added 18 and 11 assists for the Celtics.

Unlike the Clippers’ 123-112 victory at Boston on Feb. 9, when Los Angeles set a franchise record by rallying from a 28-point, first-half deficit, the Clippers took control of this one early.

Los Angeles led 25-19 after one quarter and had a 62-49 lead at halftime after shooting 72.2 percent from the field in the second quarter. The Clippers shot 61.6 percent from the field for the game as seven players scored in double figures.

Ivica Zubac had 14 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 12 for the Clippers, who tied their longest winning streak of the season, first done in November. Patrick Beverley and Landry Shamet added 11 each for Los Angeles.

Marcus Morris had 11 points and Al Horford added 10 for the Celtics.

Wilson Chandler made his Clippers debut in the fourth quarter and scored two points. He was acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers in the trade-deadline move that cost Los Angeles leading-scorer Tobias Harris, but had not played with his new team because of a quadriceps injury.

The Celtics were playing without forward Jayson Tatum, who missed his first game of the season because of right shoulder soreness.

–Field Level Media

Celtics vs Clippers Game Scout

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Boston Celtics at L.A. Clippers

When: 10:30 PM ET, Monday, March 11, 2019
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Preview for Digital Sports Desk by Gracenote

LOS ANGELES – The Boston Celtics are coming together on the West Coast and are looking for a four-game sweep of the California trip when they visit the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. The Celtics fumbled through losses in five of six games before hitting the road and knocking off Golden State, Sacramento and the Lakers in the first three stops of the trip.

LA Clippers at Celtics (House of Highlights/Youtube)

Boston All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving led the way with 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting in Saturday’s 120-107 win over the Lakers and is looking forward to the stretch run. “Throwing yourself in the game, throwing yourself in the rest of the regular season, throw yourself in the team,” Irving told reporters. “We have everything to gain. And for us, we’ve dealt with expectations, we’ve dealt with the outside pressures of that influence in our locker room and there’s no more time for that. It’s about us, and it’s about us competing and being well organized every single time we are out there, and it starts with me.” The Clippers are in the playoff race as well and have their sights set on the No. 6 spot while trying to hold off the San Antonio Spurs in eighth. A winner of four in a row, Los Angeles enters the week percentage points shy of the sixth-place Jazz (37-28) and is pulling away from the ninth-place Sacramento Kings (33-32).
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, NBCS Boston, FS Prime Ticket (Los Angeles)

ABOUT THE CELTICS (41-26): One big difference on the trip is the uptick in production from former All-Star swingman Gordon Hayward, who averaged 19 points on 24-of-34 shooting in the three wins after scoring in single digits in five straight contests. “I think I’m trying not to judge my performance based on whether I’m shooting the ball well or not, but I think I’ve been aggressive in each of the games and I’ve definitely made winning plays for our team,” Hayward told reporters. “The thing that I’m most aware of is that we’ve won all of those. They definitely haven’t all been pretty, each one of them has been different. But we found a way to win and that’s important. Hopefully we can close this trip out with a win, too.” Saturday’s victory improved Boston to 17-16 on the road.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (38-29): Guard Lou Williams broke out for 40 points in Friday’s 118-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder and buried several key jumpers down the stretch. “We’ve got great energy in the locker room right now,” Williams told reporters. “Guys are playing at a high clip, playing with a lot of confidence. So, to make a big shot right there, especially with the stretch that we have coming up, it just felt good at that moment.” That win kicked off a six-game homestand for Los Angeles, which will host playoff-hopefuls Portland, Brooklyn and Indiana in addition to Boston during the stay.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Clippers SF Danilo Gallinari scored a season-high 34 points on Friday and is averaging 24 points on 52.5 percent shooting in four games this month.

2. Williams went 4-of-6 from 3-point range on Friday after hitting 6-of-30 over his previous six contests.

3. Los Angeles rallied from 28 points down to earn a 123-112 win at Boston on Feb. 9.

California Steamin’

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LOS ANGELES– Kyrie Irving scored 30 points, Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris added 16 each, and the visiting Boston Celtics continued to emerge from a recent downturn by extending their winning streak to three with a 120-107 victory Saturday over the Los Angeles Lakers.

CELTICS VS LA LAKERS (HOUSE OF HIGHLIGHTS/YOUTUBE)

Gordon Hayward added 15 points as the Celtics avenged a defeat to the Lakers at home Feb. 7 when former Boston point guard Rajon Rondo hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

LeBron James scored 30 points for the Lakers, who were playing without a number of key contributors because of injuries. Los Angeles lost its fifth consecutive game and fell for the seventh time in its last eight games.

The Celtics emerged from the All-Star break losing their first four games. They have won four of five since then, though, including three consecutively, all in California.

On the current four-game trip to the West Coast, the Celtics have an impressive 128-95 victory at Golden State, a 111-109 triumph at Sacramento and Saturday’s domination of the Lakers. The Celtics will remain in Los Angeles for the finale of the trip Monday against the Clippers.

Boston started to break open a close game late in the second quarter while putting together a 12-4 run to take a 57-47 lead at halftime. Boston closed the first half by scoring the final seven points.

Boston extended the lead to as many as 16 in the third quarter when it outscored the Lakers 36-29 in the period to take a 93-76 advantage.

Moritz Wagner scored 22 points and Jonathan Williams added 18 for the Lakers, both career highs.

Los Angeles was playing its first game amid the news that both forward Brandon Ingram and guard Lonzo Ball would miss the remainder of the season. Ingram has a deep venous thrombosis in his right shoulder and Ball has a severely sprained left ankle.

Also out for the Lakers on Saturday was Kyle Kuzma, who also has a sprained right ankle. The injury situation meant that Wagner got his first career start in his 27th career game.

Irving went 12 of 18 from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range, after missing Wednesday’s game at Sacramento because of a left thigh contusion.

–Field Level Media

Celtics Game Scout

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Boston Celtics at L.A. Lakers

When: 8:30 PM ET, Saturday, March 9, 2019
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Preview for Digital Sports Desk by Gracenote

LeBron James passed Michael Jordan in NBA scoring (House of Highlights/Youtube)

LOS ANGELES – The high the Los Angeles Lakers experienced after earning a 129-128 victory over the Boston Celtics on Feb. 7 dissipated quickly with losses in eight of the next 10 games, knocking the team to the fringes of playoff contention. The Lakers will reportedly start limiting superstar LeBron James’ minutes when they host the Celtics on Saturday.

The push that Los Angeles expected to make after James returned from a groin injury never happened, and a four-game losing streak that culminated with a 115-99 home loss to Denver on Wednesday apparently convinced the team to start backing off the workload of its 34-year-old cornerstone. “I will be monitoring his workload from here on out,” Lakers coach Luke Walton told ESPN on Thursday of James, who is averaging 27.1 points in 35.6 minutes in his first season in Los Angeles, including an average of 37.1 minutes in 14 games since returning from the injury. The Celtics are in the process of pulling out of a funk and took the first two stops of a four-game road trip. “Trying to build something, man, trying to build some consistency going into the playoffs, as I said a few weeks ago, and we’re starting off well,” forward Marcus Morris told the Boston Herald. “Starting to come together, and it’s fun. Guys are enjoying each other, and we’re trying to rack up as many (wins) as possible.”
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC

ABOUT THE CELTICS (40-26): Boston blew out the defending champion Golden State Warriors 128-95 on Tuesday behind 30 points from small forward Gordon Hayward and got 12 points, including the game-winning shot, from Hayward in Wednesday’s 111-109 triumph over Sacramento. “I think it builds a little bit of confidence, try to keep the good games going, be more consistent,” Hayward told reporters after beating the Kings. “I felt like tonight wasn’t my best night shooting-wise, but I try to do some other things. They were a tough team, and I think the fact that they push the ball so fast up the court was even harder on us coming from a back-to-back, so I’m proud of us that we gutted it out.” The Celtics enter play on Friday in fifth place in the East, 1 1/2 games behind fourth-place Philadelphia.

ABOUT THE LAKERS (30-35): Los Angeles entered play on Friday 6 1/2 games behind the eighth-place Clippers in the race for the No. 8 spot in the West and seems to be turning its focus to the future due to the lackluster play of late. James (32,311) scored 31 points in 31 minutes on Wednesday to pass Michael Jordan for fourth place on the all-time scoring list but admitted that the loss took some of the fun out of the accomplishment. “Absolutely,” James told reporters. “At the end of the day, we’re still struggling, and I hate that for our franchise, I hate that for our fans, I hate that for myself.”

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Lakers SF Brandon Ingram (shoulder) and PF Kyle Kuzma (ankle) both sat out Wednesday and are day-to-day.

2. Boston PG Kyrie Irving (thigh) sat out Wednesday but is expected to return Saturday.

3. Los Angeles took the last two in the series after dropping the previous four.

Two for the Road

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Boston Celtics 111, Sacramento 109

When: 10:00 PM ET, Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California
Attendance: 17,583
Recap for Digital Sports Desk by Field Level Media

SACRAMENTO – Gordon Hayward avenged a critical foul 5.6 seconds earlier by sinking a tiebreaking jumper with two seconds remaining Wednesday night, giving the Boston Celtics a 111-109 victory over the host Sacramento Kings.

Celtics win second straight on the road (House of Highlights/Youtube)

Al Horford recorded 21 points and a game-high 11 rebounds while also finding time for a team-high seven assists as the Celtics completed a back-to-back sweep in Northern California after shellacking the Golden State Warriors 128-95 on Tuesday night.

Harrison Barnes had a team-high 24 points for the Kings, who wrapped up a 1-3 homestand.

Hayward’s hoop occurred after the Kings had rallied from a late six-point deficit to gain a 109-all tie on three free throws by Buddy Hield with 7.6 seconds left.

The foul shots were the result of a foul called on Hayward while he attempted to defend the potential game-tying shot.

Without calling a timeout, the Celtics rushed the ball up the court, and Hayward nailed a 9-footer for the winner.

After a timeout that allowed them to advance the ball, the Kings took a shot at a win, but Barnes’ 30-footer with two-tenths of a second remaining was off the mark.

Both teams were without a key player.

Celtics All-Star Kyrie Irving sat out with a bruised left thigh one night after having 19 points and 11 assists in Boston’s romp at Golden State.

Meanwhile, Kings standout rookie Marvin Bagley III missed his third consecutive game with a sprained left knee.

After a 3-pointer by Jayson Tatum put the Celtics ahead 91-88, the visitors went on to lead by as many as six on a 3-pointer by Marcus Morris with 3:14 to go.

The Kings rallied, getting two hoops from De’Aaron Fox and a 3-pointer from Hield with 1:10 remaining to close within 105-104.

Tatum and Willie Cauley-Stein then exchanged hoops before Tatum’s two free throws with 15.5 seconds left put the Celtics up 109-106.

Hield’s three game-tying free throws came on Sacramento’s next possession.

Tatum scored 24 points to lead the Celtics, who had lost five of six before heading west this week.

Morris had 19 points, Terry Rozier 16, Hayward 12 and Jaylen Brown 10 for Boston, which swept a road/road back-to-back for the first time in four tries this season.

Hield finished with 23 points for the Kings, who have lost four of five as they pursue a playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Fox complemented 16 points with seven assists for Sacramento, while Cauley-Stein had 19 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic 14.

The Celtics outshot the Kings 50.6 percent to 50 percent. Both teams made 13 3-pointers.

Sacramento led by as many as nine points and Boston by as many as 10 in the first three quarters, which ended with the Celtics holding an 82-77 lead.

The margin was extended to seven when Hayward opened the fourth period with a jumper, before the Kings rallied into an 88-all tie on two free throws by Harry Giles with 8:25 remaining.

–Field Level Media

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