Final: Clippers 140, Celtics 115 - Clippers blow away C's

LOS ANGELES --The good vibes from a 3-0 West Coast trip quickly dissipated on Monday night as the Clippers had their way against an overmatched Celtics defense for the better part of four quarters. The Celtics allowed a season-high in points and field goal percentage for an opponent, as the Clippers had seven different players score in double figures. Lou Williams led the way with a game-high 34 points while Danilo Gallinari (25 points) and Montrezl Harrell (20 points) were unstoppable from the perimeter and the paint all night long in the pick-and-roll. Jaylen Brown (22 points) and Terry Rozier (23 points) had strong offensive games for Boston, but it wasn’t close to enough to keep pace with the Clippers firepower on this night.

Second Quarter Notes

• Lou Williams picks up where Gallnari in the second quarter, torching the Celtics in the pick-and-roll constantly with his running mate Harrell. The duo combined for 26 points in the first half.


• Another rough half for Marcus Morris, who goes 2-of-8 from the field.


• Clippers are shooting very well but very little resistance from the C’s in the second quarter as Clippers accuracy was up to 63 percent before the break.


• Rozier (10 points) and Irving (14 points) are only two sources of consistent offense so far.


• Jaylen Brown had some nice work keeping Shamet from getting going on the perimeter.


• Rozier keeps getting stuck on screens, which is putting C’s defense in trouble on the pick and rolls.


• A tough night for Hayward (1/5 FG), including a couple of misses bunnies.

• Strong physical defense out of the gate from C’s to keep Clippers from getting comfortable


• Gallinari comes hot red-hot, getting open after a couple late close outs to score first nine points for Clippers.


• Horford doing a great job while switching onto the Clippers guard in the paint


• Good balance scoring from the C’s early with all the starters in the score book during the first six minutes.


• Gallinari having his way against Morris during isolation sequences.


• A little too much Marcus Morris on offense who takes four of first 13 shots for C’s.


• Some very nice defense by Jaylen Brown early on with a pair of steals and keeping the Clippers guards from getting comfortable


• Celtics bench unit really struggles to get anything going at end of quarter, posting just two points in final three minutes of frame to fall behind by six.

• Jayson Tatum will miss his first game of the season due to a sore right shoulder suffered during Tuesday's win over the Warriors. "I don’t know that there was an exact pinpointed moment," Stevens said when asked about the timing of the injury. "He said he told our training staff yesterday that it had been sore since the Golden State game, and that was the first time he said anything. And just being cautious with him, making sure that obviously with 15 games left that he feels great heading into the stretch run.”


• With the Clippers starting three guards, look for Jaylen Brown or Gordon Hayward to get the start in place of Tatum, which should help Boston match up with that group from a defensive standpoint.


• The Clippers have currently won four straight games, pulling themselves within a game of the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. They have not lost at home in over a month.


• The Celtics are going for their first four game road winning streak all year tonight.