It was a blow-out win for the Los Angeles Clippers while Lou Williams made history off the bench.
The Clippers defeated the Boston Celtics 140-115 following a big push from Lou Williams off the bench in the fourth quarter. Williams entered the game 28 points away from scoring the most points off the bench in NBA history.
Los Angeles started the game off well as Danilo Gallinari dominated by scoring early. Gallinari scored 13 points in the first quarter on 5-7 field goals and 2-3 three-point shots. Following Gallinari in scoring was Williams off the bench with 11 points alone in the second quarter.
Though Gallinari was the only player with a scoring rhythm in the first quarter, other Clippers stepped up on the defensive end of the floor. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, on defense, was giving Kyrie Irving some trouble in creating offense for the Celtics. Ivica Zubac was all over the rim for the Clippers.
Despite those things, the Clippers as a whole could not contain the ball offensively with a multitude of turnovers. Los Angeles turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter, while Boston only had four.
Williams came off the bench in the second quarter with scoring and facilitating the ball to his teammates. The bench duo of Williams and Montrezl Harrell connected for many easy shots in the paint.
Along with a good offense to give the Clippers a 13-point lead with under 2:30 remaining in the first half, the defense by the Clippers continued to hold the Celtics under 50 points going into halftime as they led by 11 points, 62-49.
Los Angeles outscored Boston in the second quarter 37-30 and held them to 46.5 percent in field goals in the first half overall.
In the third quarter, both the Clippers and Celtics were clicking with their respective offenses. Jaylen Brown brought the Celtics within 12 at the 6:32 mark of the third quarter as he scored three three-point shots.
The Clippers answered with shots of their own as it was a back and forth scoring burst between the teams. Following Brown’s flurry of shots, Zubac made a hook shot in the paint to extend the Clippers’ lead to 14 points, 81-67 halfway through the third.
Boston managed to pull their deficit to nine points 81-72 with a Gordon Hayward three-pointer as it was 5:04 left in the quarter. That was the closest that the Celtics could get in the second half as the Clippers continued to extend their lead in the fourth quarter.
As the Clippers entered the fourth quarter, there were only seven points left for Williams to score to make history off the bench. Williams ended up getting the record for most points off the bench in NBA history in the midst of his 13 points within five minutes.
Williams passed the Dell Curry, who held the record with 11,147 bench points, at the 9:53 mark of the fourth quarter with a driving layup to make the Clippers lead 110-90. Following Williams’ scoring burst, Los Angeles held a 25-point lead at the 7:22 mark of the fourth quarter.
As the Clippers held that lead, it was garbage time the rest of the way as players were subbed out. For the first time this season, Wilson Chandler got action on the court in the fourth quarter.
Williams finished the game with 34 points, leading all scorers, to go along with four rebounds and five assists. Gallinari followed up with 25 points, five rebounds, and two assists while Harrell also had a 20-point game with six rebounds and two assists.
For Boston, Terry Rozier led the way in scoring off the bench with 26 points on 10-14 field goals. Brown had 22 points and seven rebounds. Irving finished with 18 points and 11 assists.
With this win for the Clippers, they have now won five games in a row and sit in sixth place in the Western Conference. Los Angeles now moves to 39-29 on the season. On the second night of a back to back at home, the Clippers will take on the visiting Portland Trailblazers at 7:30 p.m. Portland leads the season series 2-1.