The Boston Celtics simply handed the Golden State Warriors their largest house loss since 1985 on their first sport of their second West Coast street journey of the month, a 40-point rout. Golden State was with out a few rotational gamers, however that doesn’t matter to the Celtics who need to begin constructing some new momentum after sub-par play during the last two months. Tonight, they’ll be dealing with an identical scenario as they head in to Los Angeles to tackle the Clippers, and so they’ll be seeking to make the most of it as soon as once more.
The Clippers shall be with out Kawhi Leanord, Ivica Zubac, Norman Powell, Kris Dunn, James Harden and Nicolas Batum. That leaves Derrick Jones Jr. because the lone wholesome starter, the remainder of the gamers probably simply getting some relaxation on the front-end of a back-to-back. Boston can also be on the front-end of their back-to-back in opposition to the 2 LA groups, and presently have Jrue Vacation, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis listed as questionable.
Do the Celtics stagger resting Porzingis and Horford?
It’s been the coverage for the previous two years now for Al and Kristaps to relaxation on back-to-backs. Each are beginning caliber gamers, so we’ve typically seen their relaxation days being staggered, one resting on the primary evening and the opposite resting on the second. Provided that Ivica Zubac is out for tonight, together with a number of different key Clippers gamers, it wouldn’t shock me to see Boston relaxation each Porzingis and Horford, particularly contemplating that the group shall be dealing with Anthony Davis and the Lakers tomorrow. Porzingis was a late addition to tonight’s harm report although, being listed as questionable on account of an sickness. That would imply that the group determined it was higher to relaxation him and Al collectively, or that he’s truly sick and will presumably miss tonight, and perhaps even tomorrow’s sport.
How shortly will the Celtics maintain enterprise, if in any respect?
After seeing the energetic roster that Los Angeles is rolling in to this sport with, many Boston followers are this sport as a scheduled loss. The Celtics have been recognized to play all the way down to their competitors occasionally. Particularly on this latest stretch, they’ve been discovering methods to shock us with the losses they fall into. They decimated the Warriors on Monday evening, although, so I’m selecting to imagine that they’re prepared to show the nook once more.
We’ll should see in the event that they handle to get again to their killer-whale offense, ramping up their aggression and attacking the weakest defenders to generate simple baskets. The Clippers maintain the third greatest defensive score within the league, however that quantity shouldn’t maintain tonight with a number of of their gamers out. That is Boston’s likelihood to have one other explosive offensive output and earn themselves some relaxation in the direction of the tip of the sport. East Coast Celtics followers typically dread the West Coast journeys for the injury they do to our sleep schedules. Right here’s to hoping Boston presents us with an early end to tonight’s sport.
Does Jrue Vacation change into an everyday within the back-to-back relaxation administration plan?
Jrue missed 3 video games in the direction of the tip of December with the identical shoulder impingement as he’s tonight. Since getting back from that harm he’s appeared higher as my colleague Jacob Issenberg wrote about just lately.
Whereas he doesn’t have a severe historical past of harm, it’s been an extended 12 months and a half of basketball for him, and it could be greatest to restrict his workload to maintain him recent for the playoffs. We received’t get a definitive reply to this query tonight, however it’s a pattern value monitoring.
