NBA Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Clippers

The Boston Celtics haven’t been able to get themselves into a nice rhythm all season so far with a lot of that falling on their inability to stay healthy.

Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker, and others have all missed time at some point in this young NBA season. They face a tough task in this matchup as the Los Angeles Clippers are among the best teams in basketball right now behind their superstar players Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.

This should make for a very fun matchup between two championship-contending teams.

Boston Celtics @ Los Angeles Clippers

The Celtics are wildly inconsistent this season but definitely have the talent to compete with any team in the league. Their combination of Tatum and Jaylen Brown has been outstanding, especially because Browns is having the best year of his career right now.

But outside of those two, there haven’t been many bright spots on this roster. Kemba Walker has struggled throughout most of the year due to numerous injuries and limited playing time while Marcus Smart is also missing time with an injury of his own, although he should be back for this matchup.

Their starting line apparently changes every game with the team going with Daniel Theis and Tristan Thompson in one game, two centers that play exactly the same. They won’t be able to do that in this game against a Clippers team that is starting to put the pieces together at the right time.[1]

Leonard and George have been incredible all season long on both ends of the floor. Each of these guys can explode for 40 points on any given night but what makes them so special is their ability to lock down an opposing team’s best player.

They have made great signings in the offseason including Serge Ibaka, who has been fantastic for this team all year long and may have even been the missing piece. They have also gotten solid production out of the veterans Lou Williams and Marcus Morris but have missed Patrick Beverley for quite some time.

Prediction: Clippers to win

Both of these teams have the ability to have monster games at any time but the talent on the Clippers team may prove to be too much to handle. Leonard and George are more than likely to be covering Brown and Tatum throughout the game, which would force other guys on the Celtics to hit their shots when given them.

I just don’t believe that the Celtics role players are going to be able to consistently drain open jump shots with their star players being shadowed the entire game by two elite defenders. Then on the other end, the Celtics may have trouble stopping the two-man game of Leonard and George, especially if they are forced to roll with two big men in their starting lineup.

The Clippers role players are very talented shooters and have proven to consistently knock down jumpers when their star players are guarded. There is just too much in favor of the Clippers in this matchup, but I would never count out the Celtics at all.

They still have a ton of talent across their roster, it just might not be enough to take down this Clippers team.