Jaden Springer gives Boston a much-needed boost to start the LA swing

LOS ANGELES — The Clippers are in a grueling stretch that includes four games in five days, so they appeared to essentially concede Wednesday’s game against the Celtics to ensure their long-term goal was not disrupted.

They ruled out their four leading scorers: forward Kawhi Leonard, guard James Harden, center Ivica Zubac and guard Norman Powell, as well as rotation players Kris Dunn and Nicolas Batum.

The Celtics, playing the first game of a back-to-back set, were without Al Horford and Jrue Holiday. After the Clippers’ lengthy list of absences was revealed, Kristaps Porzingis was ruled out with an illness, though he was seen going through a full workout at the team’s morning shootaround. It appeared to be a plan to have him and Horford both play against the Lakers on Thursday.

But the Celtics have shown during this bumpy stretch that very little comes easy, even on nights when everything seems to be going their way. In this case, they faced a six-point deficit early in the fourth, rallied to take a six-point lead, and lost it all in the final minute.

Boston eventually survived by hitting four 3-pointers in the extra session, with unlikely hero Jaden Springer hitting the last one with 36.9 seconds left to send the Celtics to a 117-113 overtime victory.

Jaylen Brown had 25 points to lead the Celtics and Jayson Tatum added 24 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds.

Springer, who hadn’t played more than 13 minutes in a game all season, played 20 after halftime and recorded 8 points and four steals. Derrick Jones Jr. had 29 points to lead the Clippers, who were undone by 23 turnovers.

A 15-footer by Amir Coffey with 11:06 left gave the Clippers an 89-83 lead, their largest. But the Celtics then rolled away with a 13-0 run that included three more Clippers turnovers. The surge was finally snapped with Terance Mann scoring inside with 4:39 left to make it 96-91.

The Celtics had the ball and a 103-99 lead with 22 seconds left before a brutal stretch reminiscent of last week’s loss to the Hawks. Brown committed an offensive foul and Coffey capitalized on a dunk with 12.7 seconds left.

After a timeout, the Clippers caught Brown near the baseline and he threw the ball away, leading to a Jones Jr. layup that tied the score at 103 with 4.4 seconds left. The Clippers then trapped Tatum and White’s 3-pointer from the left arc was blocked by Jones Jr., forcing overtime.

The Celtics started the extra session the way they probably wished they had ended regulation, with 3-pointers by Tatum, White and Brown in the first two minutes putting them up 112-105.

The Clippers pushed back and pulled within 112-110 on a Jones Jr. 3-pointer with 56.9 seconds left. Los Angeles looked to trap Tatum and Brown and force another to hurt them, and Tatum willingly found Springer, whose 3-pointer from the right corner made it 115-110 with 34.3 seconds left. Coffey answered with a quick 3-point play to make it 115-113.

The Celtics responded with a patient offensive possession that ended with White finding Neemias Queta for a layup with 5.6 seconds to play and Boston survived.

The Clippers lingered in the first quarter thanks to an improbable offensive explosion from Jones Jr. The forward, who has never averaged double figures in scoring during his nine-year career, made 7 of 9 shots and 3 of 3 3-pointers during his masterful 17-point quarter that sent Los Angeles to the second with a surprising lead of 33-32.

Coffey converted a 3-point play with 2:31 left before Jones Jr. swallowed a bad inbounds pass by Tatum and threw in an easy dunk that gave the Clippers a 56-55 lead. Los Angeles shot 57.1 percent from the field in the opening half, but was slowed by some careless turnovers.

But the Celtics weren’t crisp either. With 8:04 left, White threw away another baseline inbounds pass, with Porter Jr. swung it and ran in for a dunk. Porter Jr.’s step-back 3-pointer with 5:01 left gave the Clippers a 78-75 lead, and they would not trail again in the period.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla inserted Springer with 4:18 left, apparently looking for a jolt of defensive energy. Springer came up with three steals and forced a fourth turnover to close the quarter, but the Clippers still took an 84-79 lead into the fourth.

Adam Himmelsbach can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.