{"id":515309,"date":"2026-01-04T04:03:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T04:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/515309\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T04:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T04:03:25","slug":"boston-celtics-21-12-at-los-angeles-clippers-12-21-game-34-1-3-26-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/515309\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics (21-12) at Los Angeles Clippers (12-21) Game #34 1\/3\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boston Celtics (21-12) at Los Angeles Clippers (12-21)
Saturday, January 3, 2026
10:30 PM ET
Regular Season Game #34, Road Game #19
TV: NBCSB, FDSN SoCal,\u00a0 NBA-TV
Radio: 98.5 Sports Hub, KLAC 570, Sirius XM
Intuit Dome<\/p>\n

The Celtics visit the Los Angeles Clippers for the 2nd, and final, game between these two teams this season. The Celtics won the first game 121-118 in Boston on November 16. The Celtics won the series 2-0 last season. They are 93-46 overall all time against the Clippers and they are 43-28 in games played in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Clippers made some changes in the off season. They traded Normal Powell to the Heat in a 3 team trade that brought John Collins to LA from the Jazz. They also traded Mohamed Diawara and Luka Mitrovic to the Knicks for Kobe Sanders and signed him to a 2 way contract. They also signed Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal, and Chris Paul as free agents. They have since sent Chris Paul home and although they haven\u2019t waived him or traded him, he is no longer with the team.<\/p>\n

The Celtics are 3rd in the East, 3.5 games behind 1st place Detroit, and 1.5 games behind 2nd place New York. They are 2 games ahead of 4th place Toronto and 2.5 games ahead of 5th place Philadelphia and 6th place Miami. The Celtics are 6-4 against Western Conference opponents. They are 11-7 on the road and 7-3 in their last 10 games. They have won their last 2 games. The Celtics were in 11th place when these two teams played in November.<\/p>\n

The Clippers are 11th in the West, 16.5 games behind 1st place OKC, 8.5 games behind 6th place Minnesota, 7 games behind 7th place Phoenix, 3 games behind 9th place Memphis and 1.5 games behind 10th place Portland. They are tied with 12th place Utah and 1 game ahead of 13th place Dallas. The Clippers are 3-7 against Eastern Conference opponents. They are 8-8 at home and 6-4 in their last 10 games. They have won their last 6 games.<\/p>\n

This is the last game of a 5 game road trip for the Celtics. They started the trip with a win in Indiana and then lost in Portland and then beat the Jazz and the Kings. All 5 teams on this road trip are below .500. After the trip, they will head home for a 4 game home stand where they host Chicago, Denver, Toronto, and San Antonio before a 4 game road trip through Indiana, Miami, Atlanta and end the trip at Detroit.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The Clippers are playing in the 4th game of a 5 game home stand. They have already beat Detroit, Sacramento and Utah and will play Golden State to finish the home stand. They will then play New York, Brooklyn and Detroit on the road before heading home to play Charlotte and Washington before another road trip through Toronto Washington, and Chicago.<\/p>\n

At this time, Jayson Tatum is the only name on the Celtics injury report. For the Clippers, Bradley Beal is out for the season after being diagnosed with a left hip fracture and having season-ending surgery. Bogdan Bogdanovic is out due to a left hamstring injury. Ivica Zubac is expected to return to action in this game after a 5 game absence with an ankle sprain. Chris Paul is not with the team because, Clipper things.<\/p>\n

Probable Starting Matchups
PG: Derrick White vs James Harden <\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

SG: Payton Pritchard vs Kris Dunn <\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Jaylen Brown vs Kwahi Leonard <\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

PF: Jordan Walsh vs John Collins <\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

C: Neemias Queta vs Ivica Zubac<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Celtics Reserves
Anfernee Simons
Chris Boucher
Xavier Tillman
Josh Minott
Hugo Gonzalez
Luka Garza
Baylon Scheierman
Sam Hauser<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

2-Way Players
Ron Harper, Jr
Max Shulga
Amari Williams<\/p>\n

Injuries\/Out
Jayson Tatum (Achilles) out
Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla<\/p>\n

Clippers Reserves
Nicolas Batum
Kobe Brown
Cam Christie
Derrick Jones, Jr
Yanic Konan Niederhauser
Brook Lopez<\/p>\n

Two-Way Players
Jordan Miller
Kobe Sanders
TyTy Washington, Jr
Injuries\/Out
Bradley Beal (hip) out
Bogdan Bogdanovic (hamstring) out
Ivica Zubac\u00a0 (ankle) available
Chris Paul\u00a0 not with team
Head Coach
Tyronn Lue<\/p>\n

Key Matchups
Derrick White vs James Harden
Harden is averaging 25.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 7.9 assists while shooting 43.2% from the field and 36.2% from beyond the arc. In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 37 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, and 1 steal while shooting 40.9% from the field and 45.5% from beyond the arc. He took 15 free throws in that game. He is very dangerous from both inside and on the perimeter and the Celtics need to stay with him on defense without fouling.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Jaylen Brown vs Kawhi Leonard\u00a0
Leonard is averaging 28.5 points, 6.5 rebounds,\u00a0 3.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 50.2% from the field and 38.5% from beyond the arc.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t play in the first game against the Celtics.\u00a0 He is coming off a game in which he scored 45 points.\u00a0 This should be a good matchup of 2 of the best two way players in the league.<\/p>\n

Honorable Mention
Neemias Queta vs Ivica Zubac
Zubac is averaging 15.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists nd 1.0 blocks.\u00a0 In the first game against the Celtics, he finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 1 block while shooting 60% from the field with no 3 pointers.\u00a0 He has missed the last 5 games with a sprained ankle but is expected to return for this game.<\/p>\n

Keys to the Game
Defense \u2013 As always, defense is a key to getting a win in this game and in every game.\u00a0 \u00a0The Clippers\u00a0 have an offensive rating of 115.3 (11th) while the Celtics have an offensive rating of 121.3 (4th).\u00a0 The Celtics are 15th with a defensive rating of 114.2 while the Clippers are 22nd with a defensive rating of 116.6. In Thursday\u2019s game, the Celtics allowed the Kings to shoot 55.6% from the field and 50.3% from beyond the arc in the first half, but held them to 37.5% from the field and 20.3% from beyond the arc in the second half.\u00a0 \u00a0The Celtics need to play tough lock down defense for the entire game and not just for 1 or 2 quarters.<\/p>\n

Rebound \u2013\u00a0 Rebounding is also a big key to winning.\u00a0 It is very important now because the Celtics have struggled on the boards in their losses this season.\u00a0 The Celtics are 6-8 in games in which they are out-rebounded by their opponents. They simply have to fight harder to grab rebounds than their opponents.\u00a0 Every Celtic must crash the boards and fight for rebounds.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Energy and Effort for 48 Minutes\u00a0 \u2013 The Celtics have to come out with energy and have to play harder than the Clippers from the opening tip until the final buzzer.\u00a0 100% effort from every Celtic will be needed to get a win in this one. The Clippers have been playing very well and the Celtics can\u2019t expect to win with less than 100% effort for all 4 quarters.\u00a0 \u00a0They have to be the more aggressive team, getting off to a fast start and playing hard right up to the final buzzer with no let up.\u00a0 \u00a0They will get the Clippers best effort and so the Celtics simply must work harder with no let up.
Bench Contributions \u2013\u00a0 In the first game against the Clippers, the Celtics got just 16 points from their bench while the Clippers reserves gave them 37 points.\u00a0 Against Sacramento,\u00a0 the Celtics reserves chipped in 46 points.\u00a0 The Clippers have a very good starting lineup and so the game may come down to how well reserves from both teams play.\u00a0
Don\u2019t Underestimate \u2013 For the 5th straight game, the Celtics are facing a team that is under .500. It would be easy for the Celtics to underestimate the Clippers and expect an easy win against an 12 win team. That would be a mistake because the Celtics barely beat them in Boston without Kawhi Leonard. With Kawhi, they are a tough team to beat. The Celtics have to come out strong from the start and play hard right up until the final buzzer. The Clippers are very capable of beating them if they don\u2019t play their best.<\/p>\n

X-Factors
Last Game On the Road \u2013 The Celtics are on the road, playing in the Pacific time zone and have the distractions of travel, hotel stays, missing family, and playing in front of a hostile crowd.\u00a0 They have to overcome all those distractions and stay focused on playing as a team and on giving their best effort.\u00a0 \u00a0The last game of a long road trip is always the toughest and so the Celtics need to stay extra focused and play their hardest if they want to win this one.<\/p>\n

Officiating \u2013\u00a0 I know that I say this every game,\u00a0 but the officiating always can be an x-factor in every game.\u00a0 Every crew calls the game differently whether they call every little ticky tack foul or they let a lot of contact go and let the teams play.\u00a0 Some refs favor the home team and some not so much.\u00a0 The Celtics have got to adjust to the way the game is being called and not let the officiating take away from their focus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics (21-12) at Los Angeles Clippers (12-21)Saturday, January 3, 202610:30 PM ETRegular Season Game #34, Road Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[3602,4329,676,7,1303,75,3086,369,670,4041,919,10761,2596,559,686,301,1243,296,63357,479,3528,113,532,560,78,77,423,6971,6483,4989,7272,529,304,4042,3445,528,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,17915,3537,293,295,307,17348,6,4986,1522,378,405,678,687,986,2080,969,15145,680,7104,682,4984,10948],"class_list":["post-515309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-clippers","tag-amari-williams","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-atlanta","tag-basketball","tag-bogdan-bogdanovic","tag-boston-celtics","tag-bradley-beal","tag-brook-lopez","tag-brooklyn","tag-cam-christie","tag-chicago","tag-chris-boucher","tag-chris-paul","tag-clippers","tag-dallas","tag-denver","tag-derrick-white","tag-detroit","tag-game-road-trip","tag-golden-state","tag-hugo-gonzalez","tag-indiana","tag-ivica-zubac","tag-james-harden","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-jazz","tag-john-collins","tag-jordan-miller","tag-jordan-walsh","tag-josh-minott","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-knicks","tag-kobe-brown","tag-kobe-sanders","tag-kris-dunn","tag-la","tag-la-clippers","tag-laclippers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesclippers","tag-luka-garza","tag-max-shulga","tag-memphis","tag-miami","tag-minnesota","tag-mohamed-diawara","tag-nba","tag-neemias-queta","tag-nicolas-batum","tag-okc","tag-payton-pritchard","tag-philadelphia","tag-portland","tag-sacramento","tag-sam-hauser","tag-san-antonio","tag-scheierman","tag-toronto","tag-tyty-washington","tag-washington","tag-xavier-tillman","tag-yanic-konan-niederhauser"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}