Jaden Springer helps save Celtics in overtime win over Clippers: 7 takeaways

Boston had a sizable lead in the final minute of regulation and overtime, but managed to hold on for the win.

Jayson Tatum had 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in the Celtics’ overtime win over the Clippers. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

The Celtics nearly wasted a gift on Wednesday, but they rallied in overtime and beat a short-handed Clippers team 117-113.

Here are the points to remember.

Jaden Springer has completely changed the game.

The Celtics were setting up in the third quarter when Joe Mazzulla made a surprise move, sending little-used guard Jaden Springer out of a timeout to try to slow down Kevin Porter Jr.

Before Springer came in, Porter was doing whatever he wanted against the Celtics. After scoring 11 points in the first half, Porter began getting to the rim at will early in the period. Once he got comfortable, he started throwing jumps, and everything he threw fell into the water. Porter is a dangerous scorer, and the Celtics were in danger of being beaten by a bench player imbued with confidence by the absence of James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Norm Powell and the rest of the Clippers’ regular rotation.

Then, with 4:18 left in the third quarter, Springer was tasked with doing something, and the game completely changed. In 12 minutes, Springer racked up four steals. In the fourth quarter, a frustrated Porter fouled out and he didn’t score again until overtime, when he faced Jaylen Brown (who also struggled with Porter in the third quarter).

Springer isn’t a great offensive player, but after making himself indispensable in Wednesday’s game by completely shutting down the Clippers’ offense, he also made two 3-pointers, including a crucial one with 34 seconds remaining in the game. overtime when the Celtics were hesitant for the second time (we will return here shortly to the first failure in excruciating detail).

Without Jaden Springer, the Celtics probably wouldn’t have won Wednesday’s game. If anyone is likely to be dealt before the trade deadline, Springer is a prime candidate, but his impact against the Clippers was difficult to quantify.

The Celtics let another late lead slip away.

The Celtics really need to nip this nasty trend in the bud ASAP: After taking a six-point lead with 1:03 left, they began to squander it, allowing the Clippers to force overtime.

How did we escape them?

The fourth quarter and overtime was a very difficult period for Brown. After Terance Mann scored a quick layup with a minute left, Brown missed a pull-up jumper late in the shot clock. The Clippers couldn’t score on the other end, but Brown turned things around with an offensive foul.

This offensive foul was a bit controversial – Brown certainly wrapped up his defender, but Joe Mazzulla (and the rest of the Celtics) vehemently claimed he tried to call a timeout.

Weak audio and video evidence shows Mazzulla may have been right.

However, the Clippers had the ball and a little life. Amir Coffey scored a quick double, and the Celtics suddenly had to make free throws to ice the game.

Of course they had to get free throws before they could ice the game, and they couldn’t do it: the Celtics drove to Brown, who found himself trapped and pinned. He tried to knock the ball out of the double team, but Derrick Jones Jr. read the play perfectly and intercepted the pass. Jones ran the length of the field and scored to tie the game. The Celtics failed to make a shot, sending the game into overtime.

The Celtics looked rightfully angry with themselves for letting their six-point lead slip, and they took a 112-105 lead with three triples to start the period – one each by Derrick White, Jayson Tatum and Brown . The Clippers chipped away at that lead as well, but Springer’s three-pointer and a late layup from Neemias Queta finally slammed the door, and Tatum slammed the ball to the floor as the buzzer sounded.

Putting teams away is important for many reasons – mainly, of course, because winning games is important, but also because of nights like Wednesday where the Celtics put completely unnecessary pressure on themselves against a team that announced Derrick Jones Jr. during the introduction. their starting eleven.

Jaylen Brown rolled his ankle in the second quarter.

After the game, Brown told reporters that he was dealing with a number of ailments and rolled his ankle in the second quarter, which threw him off balance (and likely slowed him down defensively) for the rest of the game. match. He finished with 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting, although his five costly turnovers spoiled his stat line.

With a very busy schedule ahead, Brown could be absent from Thursday’s game.

Derrick White got the first technical of his career.

That’s right: In the 12,888 minutes White has played in his career, he had yet to receive a technical before Wednesday.

The technique, as one would expect, was not meant to be argued with a referee. It happened during a late Jones drive.

The technical was initially reviewed for a flagrant foul, but officials determined the first foul was actually on Brown. As a result, White’s follow-up — which hit Jones in the face — was a technicality, not a blatant one.

White finished with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. He was 4-for-12 from three, but he continued to shoot despite early woes, which proved important in the fourth quarter and overtime when he hit three important triples. White was 4 for 7 in the fourth quarter and scored 10 points.

The Good and the Evil of Neemias Queta.

Queta showed both what he brings and what he takes away when he’s on the floor.

First, the bad: The Clippers targeted him repeatedly in the pick-and-roll and on switches, and they got a lot of beauty as a result. Queta’s defensive positioning still seems problematic, and the Clippers took advantage of him passing too high on screens on several occasions.

The bright side, though: Queta looks better and better on the offensive end. He scored 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting in 22 minutes and drew praise from Brian Scalabrine on NBC Sports Boston for coming off screens quickly and diving toward the basket, which created easy offense . On the Celtics’ final possession of the game, needing any basket to clinch the victory, Queta made himself available in place of the dunker for Derrick White, faked a pump to send two Clippers defenders flying , then calmly scored a reverse layup.

Sam Hauser continued to climb.

Hauser shot 5 of 7 from 3-point range, finishing with 15 points, four rebounds and a steal. After a colder-than-usual start to the season, Hauser is shooting 40.7 percent from three in his last five games and appears to be returning to form.

Three matches in four nights.

After letting Wednesday’s game go into overtime, the Celtics will face the Lakers on Thursday at 10 p.m. They will face the Mavericks in a rematch of the Finals on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.