20150119-BOSLAC

Marc D'Amico

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LOS ANGELES – Brad Stevens has been saying all season long that Marcus Smart’s 3-point shooting is better than his percentages would indicate.

It’s getting to the point where no one can question that statement.

Smart is absolutely rolling from long range, and he has been for a good two months now.  The rookie’s hot 3-point shooting continued Monday afternoon in Los Angeles, where he canned a game-high four 3-pointers against the Clippers.

The title of “game high” during this matchup is significant.  Los Angeles boasts elite 3-point shooters such as J.J. Redick (42.1 percent), Matt Barnes (39.9 percent) and Chris Paul (39.1 percent).  Jamal Crawford (33.8 percent), who can catch fire from long range at any moment, also plays for the Clippers.

All of these players took the floor Monday afternoon, and all of them made at least one trey.  But it was Smart who stood as the game’s most lethal 3-point shooter.

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who has been watching the Celtics since December.  He’s been hitting the 3-ball with regularity since returning to the lineup full-time on Dec. 7 following an ankle injury.

Smart has now played in 20 games since that date.  He has attempted 68 3-pointers during those games and converted on 29 of them, good for a 42.6 percent clip.  That’s the 19th-best 3-point percentage in the entire league among players who have attempted at least 30 3s since that date.

This nine-week stretch of hot shooting likely surprised many its onset.  After all, Smart shot just 21.4 percent from long range during his first five weeks as a pro, and he made only 29.9 percent of his 3s last season at Oklahoma State.

The key to his drastic turnaround, according to both he and his coach, is shot selection.  Smart is not adept at making difficult 3s, but he is more than capable of making open 3s.

“When he takes good shots, he makes them,” Stevens said following Monday’s game.  “I think that he was a better shooter than his percentages coming in.  I think he was forced to have the ball so late in the clock. … occasionally he’ll settle for that late 3 instead of driving the ball.”

Smart seconded his coach’s opinion, elaborating on what his role was at Oklahoma State.

“In college I took a lot of bad shots because I was on a team where I had to take a lot of bad shots,” he explained.  “Here, I just have to knock down open shots and take the good ones.”

Smart has rarely drawn the ire of his coach by hoisting ill-advised 3s over the past nine weeks.  He has instead taken good shots, and he has made them with regularity.

The trend continued Monday afternoon in Los Angeles, when Smart rained more 3s than any player on the court.  This performance stands as more evidence that the rookie is a dangerous threat from downtown.  No one can question that fact any longer.

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Smart Brings 3-Point Sizzle to Downtown LA

Boston Celtics

RE: Tayshun Prince's first game as a Celtic:

RE: Challenges teams face when they play the Clippers:

RE: Clippers player he looked forward to playing:

RE: DeAndre Jordan's free throw shooting:

RE: Boston intentionally fouling DeAndre Jordan:

RE: Los Angeles' starters playing the entire fourth quarter:

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That's What He Said - Celtics at Clippers

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Everyone knows that 3-pointers can shoot a team back into a game.  Everyone also knows that 3-pointers can shoot a team right out of a game.

Boston converted on five 3-pointers during a 26-17 run to start the fourth quarter of Monday’s tilt with the Clippers.  The C’s tallied those points over a span of seven-plus minutes, with Marcus Smart and Marcus Thornton each accounting for two 3-pointers and Kelly Olynyk adding one of his own.

That run to open the final period turned what was once a 23-point blowout into a one-possession game.  Thornton’s 3-pointer at the 3:50 mark cut the Clippers lead down to 91-88.

All of those 3-pointers seemed to make the Celtics a bit trigger happy from downtown.  Trailing by five with less than three minutes left, Thornton forced a contested 3 from the right wing that missed.  On Boston’s next possession, after DeAndre Jordan had added a point to L.A.’s lead, Olynyk let one fly from long range at the top of the key.  His shot was also errant.

The Clippers scored on their next possession when Spencer Hawes put home a reverse layup.  That bucket put the home team on top 96-88 with 2:08 remaining, and the C’s managed to score only one more field goal the rest of the afternoon.

You have to admire Boston’s fight.  The team trailed by as many as 23 points and battled back to make it a one-possession game.  The C’s got hot from downtown, but once they cooled off, Los Angeles pulled away for the 102-93 win.

Many pundits believed that the Celtics wouldn’t have the size to compete with DeAndre Jordan, who stands at 6-foot-11, 265 pounds.  It turns out those pundits were correct.

Jordan was a dominant force Monday afternoon as the Clippers downed the Celtics 102-93 at the STAPLES Center.  He was one of the game’s top scorers, logging 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting.  He was the game’s top rebounder, grabbing 12 boards.  He was also the game’s top shot blocker, swatting six shots – three-times more than the total of Boston’s entire team.

The Celtics employed a hack-a-Jordan strategy late in the fourth quarter, which helped them to crawl back into the game.  However, the rest of Jordan’s performance helped to provide the Clippers with an insurmountable lead.

Brad Stevens on DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin.

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Ford Keys to the Game: Clippers 102, Celtics 93

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Photos: Celtics vs. Clippers - Jan. 19, 2015

Here are five things to watch out for when the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers meet at 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon at the STAPLES Center.

Monday’s Celtics-Clippers contest will feature a very interesting matchup along the frontline.  Both starting frontlines are very capable, but they are also very different.

Boston’s starting frontline is stuffed with basketball players.  There is nothing that these guys do great, but they do everything well.  Jae Crowder, Jared Sullinger and Tyler Zeller are all capable of making contributions across the board with their fine-tuned skills and craftiness.

Such is far different than the trio of Matt Barnes, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.  Why are these guys so great as a group?  Because they’re all elite athletes.  Barnes, Griffin and Jordan don’t need to rely on being crafty or playing with a high level of skill to get by.  Their athleticism gives them an advantage over nearly every frontline in the NBA.

There’s no doubt that L.A. will again have that advantage on Monday.  The question is whether or not Boston’s basketball players can keep up with the Clippers’ athletes.

Trade deadline?  Who needs the trade deadline!  Danny Ainge and his staff have been hard at work this month, pulling off four trades in a seven-day span.

Those trades landed two new players on Boston’s roster.  Tayshaun Prince came over from Memphis and Shavlik Randolph was acquired from Phoenix.  Prince and Randolph joined the Celtics in Los Angeles and could be available to play on Monday.

It is not an easy task to sprinkle new players into a rotation, as Brad Stevens knows well following December’s Rajon Rondo trade.  Should Prince and Randolph be available on Monday, the Celtics will stare down that challenge yet again.

Los Angeles is due for a loss.  That is not because it is in the midst of a long winning streak, but more so because of a trend that has been building for more than a week.

The Clippers have rotated wins and losses over their past five games.  Beginning Jan. 10 with a win over the Mavs, L.A. went W, L, W, L, W.  It’s most recent victory arrived Saturday night, with a 117-108 triumph over the Kings.

There is no guarantee that this recent trend will continue for the Clippers when they take on the Celtics on Monday.  However, five games is a long enough sample size to see that L.A. hasn’t been able to bring it’s A-game on consecutive nights of late.

When you think of the Clippers, you think of Lob City.  Dunks, alley-oops and interior scoring.

Los Angeles is not the interior scoring team that everyone believes it is.  The Clippers are actually the third-word team in the league when it comes to scoring in the paint.  Their average of 36.2 points in the paint per game ranks ahead of only Miami (35.8) and New York (32.4).

So how are the Clippers still fifth in the league in scoring?  Their jump shooting.

Los Angeles has attempted 22.3 percent of its shots from the deep midrange this season.  Another 32.3 percent of the team’s shots have been from long range.  With that in mind, the Celtics need to be in position to defend and challenge those jump shots for 48 minutes.

One of the aforementioned trades that Boston recently made was sending Austin Rivers to L.A. to play for his father, Doc.  Doc has since stated that he made that trade not because of family ties, but rather because of team needs.

Los Angeles is thin in the backcourt.  There’s no doubt about that.  Austin joins the Clippers and immediately slots in as their backup point guard.  The only other player on the team who is capable of playing point guard is Jamal Crawford, but his role is to score points off of the bench, not to distribute.

It’s not a secret that Austin has struggled during his young career.  There’s a reason why New Orleans gave up on him and the Celtics opted to trade him away.  Additionally, Crawford is a poor defender and Dahntay Jones just signed with Los Angeles.

This is a perfect night for the likes of Marcus Smart and Marcus Thornton to take advantage of L.A.’s backcourt deficiencies.  Neither has logged a true game-changing performance of late.  Monday could be the day to change that.

20150119‑BOSLAC

Smart Brings 3-Point Sizzle to Downtown LA

That's What He Said - Celtics at Clippers

Ford Keys to the Game: Clippers 102, Celtics 93

Photos: Celtics vs. Clippers - Jan. 19, 2015

Watch It! - Celtics at Clippers