LOS ANGELES — It was almost the Jaden Springer game. Then, the undermanned meeting between the Celtics and Clippers tilted toward Boston’s recent crunch time troubles with a last minute collapse ahead by four points. The Celtics received five extra minutes to get things right, and after nearly capsizing again ahead by seven late in overtime, Springer delivered a corner three that cut off Los Angeles’ 5-0 run and won the game, 117-113.
The Springer game came at the perfect time, two weeks short of the trade deadline, and could legitimately save his standing in Boston. Multiple reports earlier in the season pointed toward the Celtics trying to move off his $4 million expiring contract for roster flexibility. Over the past year, despite receiving a handful of limited opportunities to play, Springer never emerged anywhere close to a rotation player or even a specialist in his age-22 season. While Wednesday’s triumph didn’t prove he can do the former with Boston anytime soon, the Celtics trailing, 78-75, down three rotation players presented the opportunity for Springer to provide a a boost with Boston’s perimeter defense struggling. A role he could repeat into the future.
“He just has an innate skill to impact the game with his physicality and his defense,” Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought that’s what the game needed at the time. I thought their guards were a little too comfortable and he has an ability to really change the game that way and hat off to him. I think that’s one of the best things you can do in this league is to just deliver when your name is called, regardless of when it is. So it’s a credit to him and the work ethic that he has … (it) changed the game for us.”
Between the time Springer checked in, with 4:18 left in the third, through the 2:07 mark in the fourth, when Boston should’ve comfortably closed the game out ahead 101-95, the Celtics went on a 26-17 run with Springer on the floor. Over that stretch, the Clippers shot 7-for-23 and turned the ball over nine times, six of them directly attributable to Springer, who recorded three steals in three minutes to close the third quarter. He also fouled three times on other plays that could’ve turned the ball the other way, and Mazzulla believed in his offense enough to let him play 20 crucial minutes with the game on the line before substituting offense-defense late in overtime.
After the game, Springer stood around a swath of reporters near Tatum’s locker, who shouted at Springer throughout his interview and implored him to speak up. Mazzulla, praising Springer after, said it’s one thing to develop. It’s another to receive the trust of your star teammates like he did with Tatum on the decisive play of overtime. Boston led by seven points in the extra period as its bench area implored the players on the court to pick up the pace. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum missed jump shots, allowing Kevin Porter Jr. to pull a severely short-handed Clippers team within two.
Springer’s three on the next possession put Boston ahead 115-110, but Amir Coffey tore through Brown for a three-point play that forced Neemias Queta to put the game away with a difficult cutting reverse layup ahead by two points the other way. To end regulation, Brown turned the ball over twice getting trapped in the corner, Mazzulla emphasizing that he wasn’t granted a timeout on the first before Brown’s live ball giveaway on the next possession gave Derrick Jones Jr. an open breakaway layup to tie the game and force overtime. Tatum drew a double team and tossed the ball to Derrick White for a game-winning three too late.
“(You have to be) strong with the ball, cut to the basket. Sometimes you try to be a little passive where you’re trying to make a pass,” Mazzulla said. “The time that we just gave it to (Queta) and he just laid it in, you gotta make the layup, you gotta be strong with the ball, you gotta get the spacing and you gotta be aggressive. So we’ll just continue to work on that.”
Mazzulla mentioned this point in the season giving the Celtics limited opportunities to work on crunch time situations like that live, especially with the same physicality that Boston will see in games. He noticed a change in approach from teams where they’d foul in the past shifting toward waiting and trying to force the turnovers that nearly doomed the Celtics on Wednesday.
The miscues followed two late game meltdowns against the Pelicans and Hawks earlier this month that featured White a five-second violation, a Jrue Holiday turnover throwing the ball around with the shot clock off to kill time ahead by two points, then Brown committing turnovers in the Clippers games against traps. Boston fell to a -8.4 net rating this month in clutch situations, allowing 122.9 points per 100 possessions, which ranks 18th. Their 16.4 TOV% fell to 21st.
“Take accountability, look at the film and stuff like that, and learn from our experiences,” Brown said. “We had some turnovers late in the fourth quarter. It was, I guess, some different coverages the Clippers were throwing at us. They did a good job trapping us in the corners and stuff, and they made the game closer than it probably should’ve been. We just gotta be better.”
- Mazzulla stuck with the new first quarter rotation pattern for the fourth straight game that allowed Brown and Tatum nine minutes each by playing Tatum two segments and allowing Brown to open the game for a longer stint. He said they have open conversations about what gives the team the best chance to win nightly and develop things they may need in the future. Previously, Tatum typically played the full first quarter and Brown came out after six minutes, something that Brown noted several times was an adjustment in the first half of the season.
- Brown rolled his ankle in the win and said it was a re-injury of a previous sprain. He called this recent stretch one of the most difficult of this season for him physically, but said he’ll remain available as much as possible and expected to play in Thursday’s back-to-back against the Lakers. Brown also received treatment on his right leg in the locker room after the game, including tape around his shin/calf just below the knee.
- Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis all rested on Wednesday, setting the Celtics up for a return to full health on Thursday, when they’ll face the Lakers mostly healthy. LeBron James and Anthony Davis are probable. Jalen Hood-Schifino, Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood are out for LA.
