Match Preview - LA Clippers vs Boston Celtics

What a difference a point guard makes! The LA Clippers and Boston Celtics are lucky enough to boast of two of the premier point guards in the league in Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo. And tonight, they are unlucky to be without the services of both of them. Chris Paul is listed as a game-time decision for Sunday’s contest and in all probability, won’t be playing tonight while Rondo is out for the season, as is Jared Sullinger. Here’s a preview of this contest -

Momentum

The Clippers are coming in with a 34-14 record, but they have lost five of their last 10 games. Chris Paul has been out for six of those five. And in the seventh one, he was already hobbling. In the last two games, the Boston bench has had three players score at least 12 points apiece. The Celtics are now on a three-game winning streak.

Past

The Clippers fared well versus the Celtics of late, the last time these two teams met was on 27 December. The LA Clippers blew the Celtics out in that one by 29 points even though Chris Paul didn’t play very well. Paul had just eight points, missing eight of his 11 shots, but he did have 11 assists and two steals. Instead, the Clippers’ bench stepped up in that one as Matt Barnes had 21 points and Jamal Crawford dropped 17. Blake Griffin had 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting and grabbed eight boards in 26 minutes of action. That was the game when the Clippers won an NBA-best 15th consecutive game by running over the Boston Celtics, 106-77. The Celtics had 18 turnovers in that one. The last team to win 15 consecutive games or more were the Celtics during the 2008-09 season, when they won 19 straight.

Home Turf

The Boston Celtics have won 16 of 23 games at TD Garden. The last game the Clippers played, they lost to the Raptors in the debut of Rudy Gay and had just 12 assists. This is the third game of a 8 game road trip of the Clippers. The last team to win 15 consecutive games or more were the Celtics during the 2008-09 season, when they won 19 straight. The Clippers are looking for their first two game season sweep of the Celtics since the 06-07 series.

Here’s a look at the matchups -

Kevin Garnett vs DeAndre Jordan

Kevin Garnett is averaging 14.9 points and 7.3 rebounds. But in the last five games he has averaged 16.6 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. His counterpart on the Clippers, DeAndre Jordan is averaging 8.9 points per game with 6.9 boards and 1.4 blocks. Young Jordan is a pogo stick and has more energy than Garnett, but KG has more than double the experience than him.

Advantage – Celtics

Brandon Bass vs Blake Griffin

Brandon Bass is averaging 7.5 points and 4.9 rebounds over 25.8 minutes per game. Blake Griffin is averaging 18.5 points and 8.6 rebounds, both career low. But he has upped his steals to 1.5 from a career average of 1. Ignoring the numbers for a minute, Blake Griffin is an all star who can eat the lunch of Brandon Bass any time he wants to.

Advantage – Clippers

Caron Butler vs Paul Pierce

I can’t figure which of these two veterans are more sneaky. Paul Pierce sneaks away on a wheelchair to return Rocky style and Caron Butler steals the ball from an opponent in the last few seconds under pretence of a handshake to go make a shot. Paul Pierce definitely has the number of Butler though, albeit not by too much of a margin.

Advantage – Celtics

Willie Green vs Courtney Lee

This is quite misleading as the Clippers have Jamal Crawford coming off the bench. Hopefully they do as he had nasal fracture in Toronto. Courtney Lee is quite a defender though. “Me and [Bradley] both out there, I mean, the [opposing] 1 and the 2 is not going to be safe bringing the ball up, because we’re going to try to pressure them and turn them a lot and try to wear them down,” Lee said. “So you can look at it that way. You’ve got two guys that like to play defence out there at the 1 and 2, so we can definitely upgrade the defensive pressure.”

Advantage – Celtics

Avery Bradley vs Eric Bledsoe

Eric Bledsoe may have been nicknamed as Mini LeBron but he is shooting just 35.9 percent from the field. Avery Bradley is a capable defender though and can contain Bledsoe. “Defence wins games,” Bradley said. “Me and Courtney are going to bring it on the defensive end every single game. It’s going to be hard for our opponents.”

Advantage – Clippers

Here’s how the team ratings stack up-

Offensive rating:Clippers- 109.3 (4th best)Celtics- 101.9 (27th)

Defensive rating:Clippers- 101.7 (5th)Celtics- 102.6 (6th)

Boston are 23-23 for the season and are older than the Clippers. The Clippers had their number with Paul playing poor in their last matchup and this time they don’t even have Rajon Rondo. Expect the Clippers to win this one. The match will be telecast live on Sony SIX at 11:30 tonight (3rd February).