Celtics 117-113 Clippers (January 22, 2025) Game Recap

On January 23, 2025By Littum

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — – Jaylen Brown scored 25 points, Jayson Tatum added 24 and the Boston Celtics rallied past the Los Angeles Clippers 117-113 in overtime on Wednesday night as both teams were missing key players.

Derrick White added 20 points and Sam Hauser had 15, tying his season high with five 3-pointers. The defending NBA champions played without Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored a career-high 29 points, 17 in the first quarter, to lead the Clippers. Kevin Porter Jr. added a season-high 26 and Amir Coffey had 24. LA’s Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac were all out.

The Clippers trailed by seven in the fourth, but Coffey dunked and then Jones stole the ball from Brown and scored with 4.2 seconds left to tie the game at 103-103 and force overtime.

The Celtics opened the five-minute extra session with 3-pointers by White, Tatum and Brown that extended the lead to 112-105. The Clippers twice cut the deficit to two points, the last time on Coffey’s three-point play with 30 seconds left.

After the Celtics worked the ball downfield, Neemias Queta scored underneath and time expired.

Takeaways

Celtics: They trailed for most of the third quarter before hitting four 3-pointers in the fourth, in which Tatum had just five points.

Clippers: They got to see some of their younger players step up against the Celtics, who are second in the East.

Key moment

The Celtics turned it around in the fourth after falling behind by six early. They ran off 13 straight points, including three consecutive 3-pointers, two by White and one by Tatum, to pull ahead by seven.

Key state

The game featured 16 ties and 25 lead changes.

The Celtics visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. The Clippers host NBA-worst Washington on Thursday night to complete their second back-to-back this week.

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AP NBA: