LOS ANGLES (Sporting Alert) The Los Angeles Clippers dream run in the NBA continued on Thursday night following a crushing 106-77 victory over the Boston Celtics at Staples Center.
The Clippers (23-6) led from the opening tip-off right to finish and even outscored the visit Boston team 24-10 in the fourth quarter as coach Vinny Del Negro men extended its franchise winning streak to 15 games
Matt Barnes paced the league’s top side with 21 points, including 5-of-9 from three point range in his reserve role, while fellow reserve Jamal Crawford added 17 points and four assists in the win.
Star point guard Chris Paul only had eight points in the win, but he says the strength of the Clippers bench made up for a low scoring outing from his end.
Paul also sat out the fourth quarter with his team already having a massive advantage.
“Shows we have a lot of depth. I’ve probably sat out more fourth quarters this season than any of my previous seven seasons,” Paul, who also dished out 11 assists, said.
“It’s a really good feeling now, a good vibe because everyone is enjoying it.”
Blake Griffin had 15 points and eight rebounds and Caron Butler added 14 points in the victory for the Clippers, which also had 13 rebounds, five assists and four blocks from the new-look Lamar Odom.
The 29 point victory margin was the largest ever for the Clippers over the Celtics in franchise history, a mark which surpassed the 23-point victory six-years-ago.
Kevin Garnett led Boston (14-14) with 16 points and he admitted that the Celtics showed the Clippers too much respect.
“I thought we came out with too much respect. We wanted to back off some of their bigs and Blake hit some shots that he doesn’t usually hit,” Garnett said.
“They came out with a lot of confidence and they packed the paint and that is the reason why have won 15 in a row. They had us on our heels all night.”
Paul Pierce and Courtney Lee each added 12 points, while Jason Terry and Rajon Rondo collected 10 apiece.
“Every individual on our team wanted to beat them and every individual tried to do it by themselves instead of just playing our game,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.
