Clippers’ winning streak ends against Jaylen Brown, Celtics

INGLEWOOD — A victory against another top team would have put an exclamation mark on the league’s longest current winning streak. Instead, the Boston Celtics threw a large heap of reality on the Clippers’ feel-good run with a 146-115 defeat on Saturday.

The 31-point defeat, in front of a packed Intuit Dome, ended a six-game winning streak that began 15 days ago.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said his team played hard but couldn’t match Boston’s speed or match their shooting.

Boston’s offensive attack was led by its two-pronged scoring tandem of Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, who torched the Clippers for a combined 79 points. Brown, an NBA Finals MVP and four-time All-Star, led Boston, tied his career high with 50 points, three rebounds and five assists, and White added 29 points, four rebounds and seven assists.

The Celtics’ strategy against the Clippers was simple: take care of the ball, shoot 3-pointers and everyone else get out of Brown’s way. He rolled through the Clippers for 19 points on 7-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 from the 3-point range in the third quarter alone to tie his career high of 50 points.

The Celtics shot 55.2% (53 of 96) from the field and connected on 24 of 51 3-pointers (47.1%), much to the delight of the predominant Boston crowd.

“They have great shooting, they play at a high pace, so you can’t get back, you can’t get matched up and they played well tonight. I give them credit,” Lue said.

“They got off to an early lead; we just had to do so much to get back into the game. It was tough.”

The Clippers gave themselves several chances, cutting the lead to single digits at various points, but each time the Celtics came back with big shots or forced turnovers. The Clippers came within five, 87-82 on a 3-pointer by Kris Dunn with 5:28 left in the third, but the Celtics responded with a 14-8 run for a 104-96 lead.

James Harden said from there the teams were just “trading baskets and the first team that was going to get stops consecutively was going to win the game and they did that.

“They move the ball, they move their bodies, have flare screens. That allows them to get to the paint and then they got a number of guys that can knock down shots.”

Forward Derrick Jones Jr. said it’s difficult to beat a team stacked with shooters. Boston had four others in double figures. Anfernee Simons had 15 points, Jordan Walsh 13 points and 13 rebounds, Payton Prichard 12 and Luka Garza added 11.

“They shoot the ball at will,” Jones said.

Late in the game, Jones limped off the court after colliding with Pritchard at midcourt. The two were chasing a loose ball when Pritchard fell on Jones’ right leg, the same leg that caused him to miss 17 games.

He is expected to have an MRI on Sunday.

The loss spoiled the return of center Ivica Zubac, who was back in uniform for the first time in two weeks because of an ankle injury.

Although healthy, Zubac was not in the starting lineup. Lue said Zubac asked to come off the bench in his first game back, but Lue stressed that the move wasn’t permanent.

Zubac suffered a Grade 2 sprained ankle during the first quarter of the Clippers’ victory against the Lakers on Dec. 20 and was expected to miss three weeks. But the 7-footer only missed five games – all during the Clippers’ winning streak, coming back a week earlier than expected.

“Played some and it (ankle) responded well, so I felt I could play,” said Zubac, who finished with four points and seven rebounds.

The Clippers needed everyone available to have a chance to extend their streak against the Celtics. With Brown shadowing him, Kawhi Leonard didn’t match the energy he had during their streak and finished with 22 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field and 2-of-8 from long-range.

Two days earlier, Brown had asked Boston coach Joe Mazzulla to guard Leonard, which resulted in the Clippers star having a modest outing.

“I thought that was an honor to be able to watch a performance like that as a coach,” Mazzulla said.

Harden also struggled and finished with 18 points and 12 assists, while John Collins had 22 points, and Jones finished with 19.

The Clippers fell behind quickly and, despite their hot shooting, could never quite catch the Celtics, who couldn’t miss.

“We shoot 50% from the field and 40% from 3 and still lose the game,” Lue said. “They had a terrific game. Their pace and their style, they play hard, fast, they move the basketball and move around the floor. And they made 24 3’s and that’s hard to overcome.”

The Clippers made 42 of 84 shots from the field and 15 of 38 from beyond the 3-point range.