Boston started the game by missing 11 out of their first 12 field goal attempts. As expected, the matchup between the two team's big men was in Clippers' favor. Jared Sullinger started 0-for-3 and Tyler Zeller was 1-for-4, while DeAndre Jordan started 4-for-4. Meanwhile, Blake Griffin failed to get to the rim and was 1-for-5 in the first quarter.
The Clippers' lead got as high as 21-12, but the Celtics were able to turn the tide a bit, as soon as the bench players started rotating in, and the first quarter ended with a 23-17 lead for the home team.
The second quarter evolved very much like the first with the Celtics having trouble getting the ball in the hoop, while the Clippers had it just a little bit easier, mostly because the Celtics defense gave up better looks than the Clippers did.
This resulted in the Celtics only hitting 14 out of 48 field goal attempts, which is less than 30 percent, while the Clippers hit 18 out of 41, or almost 44 percent, in the first half. The Clippers went into the locker room with a 47-37 lead.
In the beginning of the second half, the Clippers tightened up their game on both ends and started executing their plays, which benefited Blake Griffin more than any other player. Within seven minutes he hit five out of five shots leading the Clippers to a 71-48 lead.
The Celtics usually make a lot of their points in the paint, but this afternoon they were dominated mostly by DeAndre Jordan who not only had six blocks in the game, but also made the Celtics think twice before driving to the hoop.
But this Celtics team doesn't just lie down and roll over when faced with adversity. As soon as the Clippers loosened their grip on the game, the Celtics went on a 14-3 run to end the third quarter with the Clippers leading 74-62.
This trend continued in the fourth quarter, while both teams played mostly their second units, and the Celtics were able to cut the Clippers lead to under ten for the first time since the second quarter when Marcus Smart made his fourth three pointer in the game to make it 75-83 with a little more than eight minutes left to the game.
As is often the case, once you have loosened the grip, it's hard to tighten it again, and the Clippers soon found themselves scrapping for points, while the Celtics chipped away at their lead, making it a one-possession game at 88-91 after a red hot Marcus Thornton made his second three pointer and 10th point within less than four minutes. That concluded a 40-20 run by the Celtics since the Clippers led 71-48.
In the final three and a half minutes the Celtics seemed to run out of gas and luck after a remarkable turnaround, and the Clippers were able to keep the distance at two to four possessions. Chris Paul sealed the game with his second three pointer of the game with 48 seconds left to make it 102-91. The game ended 102-93 after Tayshaun Prince made his first two points as a Celtic. He took a lot of Jae Crowder's playing time, as he played 19 minutes.
DeAndre Jordan was the dominant player of the game with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks, while Blake Griffin was the leading scorer with 22 points, adding nine rebounds and six assists.
For the Celtics, rookie Marcus Smart had a great game from the bench with 14 points on four-of-eight shooting (four-of-seven from three-point range) and seven assists. Another bench player, Brandon Bass, led the team in scoring with 17 points. The Boston bench outscored the starters 59-34 and was all on the positive side in the plus-minus-stat. Much thanks to the bench, Boston was able to raise their shooting percentage to 39 percent for the full game and to 41 from behind the arc.
With his much improved three-point shooting, Marcus Smart may soon silence some of his doubters. He has hit 25-of-64 or 39 percent of his three-point shots since he returned from his injury in December.
