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Key Moment
Brad Stevens called upon the Hack-a-Jordan tactic Wednesday night against the LA Clippers. Unfortunately, it didn’t work.
Jordan made eight of his nine free throw attempts in the game, including two at the 4:38 mark of the fourth quarter after Stevens instructed Al Horford to purposely commit a foul against Jordan to send him to the line.
Jordan’s 2-for-2 effort arrived at a critical juncture of the game, as LA led 112-109 following Horford’s turnaround hook shot three seconds earlier. Jordan’s freebies ignited a 7-2 run by the Clippers, which provided them with an eight-point lead heading into the final two minutes of the contest.
Boston was never able to slice into LA’s lead from that point on. The C’s couldn’t score, and the Clippers made the necessary plays to finish off a 129-119 win.
Key Player
Kyrie Irving was very good Wednesday night, leading the game with 33 points, but his effort wasn’t enough to overcome DeAndre Jordan.
Jordan looked like the dominant force other teams had sought to acquire last week before the trade deadline as he had a permanent seat on the trade block. He finished with 30 points and game-highs of 13 rebounds and four steals. His four steals matched Boston’s team total.
The craziest piece of Jordan’s top-flight performance was – believe it or not – was his free-throw shooting. The 6-foot-11 big man entered the contest shooting 57.9 percent from the charity stripe this season, yet he stepped to the line Wednesday night and made eight of his nine attempts. He went 2-for-2 from the stripe on multiple occasions after the Celtics purposely sent him to the line. His eight made free throws were a season best.
Box Score Nuggets
- LA scored at least 32 points during three of the four quarters.
- Kyrie Irving led the game with 33 points and eight assists.
- The contest featured 16 lead changes.
- The Celtics (15) made four more 3-pointers than the Clippers (11).
- LA made up for its lack of 3s by shooting an impressive 30-for-33 from the free-throw line.
- Boston outscored LA 21-8 in fast break points.
- Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier each scored 13 points off of Boston's bench.
- Morris logged his first double-double as a Celtic with his 13 points and team-best 11 rebounds.
- Lou Williams led all reserves with 19 points.
- The teams combined to commit only 17 turnovers (nine by LA, eight by Boston).
- Deandre Jordan tallied 30 points and game highs of 13 rebounds and four steals.
- Tobias Harris (21 points) and Danilo Gallinari (20 points) also eclipsed the 20-point mark for LA.
- Montrezl Harrell led the game with four blocked shots.
Quote of the Night
Brad Stevens after being asked if the All-Star break arrived at just the right time for his team to recharge its batteries.