Final: Clippers 107, Celtics 104 (OT) -- Clippers rally late to escape with win

The Celtics got the first look at the new-look Clippers at full strength and put up quite the fight at the Staples Center. However, a late 10-0 Clippers run pushed the game into overtime and opening them to hold off a feisty Celtics squad with a 107-104 victory after Kawhi Leonard blocked Kemba Walker’s 3-point shot as time expired.

Jayson Tatum scored 23 of his season-high 30 points in the second half to carry Boston’s offense out of a first half slumber and into a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. However, the Clippers fought back late behind the shooting of Lou Williams (27 points) and Patrick Beverley (14 points, 16 rebounds), as both players helped the Clippers rally late in regulation and hold off the C’s in overtime.

Boston drops to 2-2 on their five-game road trip with the finale looming in Denver on Friday night.

TWO UP

Enes Kanter:  The big man provided a much needed source of offense in the first half with the C’s perimeter offense essentially non-existent. He posted a team-high 8 points and 5 rebounds before intermission while also holding his own on the defensive end against Zubac and Harrell.

Brad Wanamaker: The 30-year-old guard has turned into a defacto 6th man for the C’s since Gordon Hayward has been out. He played starter minutes (15) before intermission while scoring seven points and snapping the C’s 0-of-16 3-point shooting streak. H

TWO DOWN

Kemba Walker: The All-Star missed six of his first seven shots while coughing up three turnovers as the Clippers length swallowed him up in the paint. He managed just three points in the first half in what easily his worst stretch since the opener in Philadelphia.

Celtics 3-point shooting: Boston set a new team record by missing their first 16 3-point attempts of the game before finally breaking through in the closing moments of the second quarter. The starters minus Theis combined to go 0-of-15 from downtown before the break as the C’s somehow finished the first half an absurd 1-of-18 from 3.

• Marcus Smart expects to play after suffering a sprained right ankle during Monday's win over the Suns. He won't be on a minutes restriction.


• Kawhi Leonard will be back in the lineup for the Clippers after missing the last three games with a sore knee. He and Paul George will share the floor together for the Clippers for the first time all season.


• Starting shooting guard Landry Shamet remains sidelined for the Clippers with an ankle injury suffered last week.


• Brad Stevens on the toughness of matching up with the Clippers: “They’ve been running the same stuff when Kawhi plays and when Kawhi doesn’t play,” he told reporters in LA this morning. “Obviously, you isolate more with Kawhi when he does play. Which he’s really good, really smart, both at the top of the key and in the post. They’re a handful. This team is a handful. They’ve got great players on both ends of the court. Right now, what do they have, four guys averaging over 19 a game? And the three perimeters are guys that have been scoring forever and Harrell’s just so tough. With Williams and Harrell coming off the bench, I just think that’s a different dynamic than almost everybody else in the league.”