Boston Celtics fly high with "JJ" wings, knock out LA Clippers in intense game
The focus of today's game is the confrontation between two heavyweights for the championship, the Boston Celtics host the LA Clippers at TD Garden.
Before entering this important game, both teams were lucky with the return from injury of former Finals MVP - Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers and center Robert Williams lll of the Boston Celtics.
The return of these two individuals will certainly make the nature of the match more intense thanks to the full force coming from both teams.
The first half of the match was extremely tense as the two teams struggled with each other point by point. In the 6th minute, the Boston Celtics suddenly rose up with a series of 8-0 points thanks to Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart.
However, their defense did not play well towards the end of the half, allowing the LA Clippers to make 3 successful long throws in a row and shorten the distance to only 1 point. Kawhi Leonard was the focus of this round with 11 points and a very good shooting performance.
Entering the second half, the home team Boston Celtics accelerated again with a 9-0 run by the pair Jayson Tatum And Jaylen Brown, creating a difference of more than 10 points before entering the break.
In this round Tatum showed why he is the leading candidate for the MVP title of this season with 12 points in 12 minutes. The Boston Celtics temporarily led with a score of 60-49.
After the break, coach Tyronn Lue on the LA Clippers side stabilized the spirit and tactical thinking for the students.
Consecutive 3-point phases were made by his students to fill the 11-point gap. In the last minutes of the third half, John Wall successfully made a long throw to put the LA team ahead.
Round 4 showed a bold impression of bigman Robert Williams. Although he has just returned from injury, this striker still shows impressive performance when constantly punishing the Clippers defense with close-to-basket scoring phases.
The gap was extended to more than 10 points for Boston and to determine the end of the match, Derick White and Al Horford had 2 spectacular blocks in the last minute of the game. The final whistle sounded with the final result 116-110, the victory belonged to the Boston Celtics.
Best friends "JJ" - Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each pocketed 29 points in today's match. Not only good attack, both played excellent defense.
Tatum added 11 rebounds and 1 block, Brown added 7 rebounds and 2 assists. The other three Celtics players scoring above 12 include Robert Williams III, Marcus Smart and Derrick White. Smart alone has 9 assists.
On the LA Clippers side, star duo Kawhi Leonard and Paul George scored a total of 50 points. Norman Powell led both teams' benches with 19 points (3-6 3PT), 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
Despite playing well in most of the game, Paul George made a mistake at a crucial moment when he lost the ball to Marcus Smart. This TO situation helped Smart get into the basket easily and raised the gap to 10 points when the match was only 3 minutes.
Winning an important match today, the Boston Celtics continue to consolidate the top of the Eastern rankings with a series of 4 unbeaten matches.
In the near future, they will march to Ball Arena to face the current first-place Western team, the Denver Nuggets. The competition of the two teams will take place at 8:00 am next Monday, January 2, 2023.
Meanwhile, the LA Clippers will continue their long trip and play at dawn on the first Sunday of the new year (3am on January 1, 2023). Their opponent is the Indiana Pacers, who have won 4 of the last 5 games.
