Comments on: Clippers vs Celtics Preview: A Good Test on Defense

By: khyber jones

khyber jones — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 02:09:41 +0000

I compared the rosters side by side before the game and thought Boston was better given that Zu hasn’t had any time to ramp up. Recall the game in Boston was close w/Zu on the floor and Harden cooking (no Kawhi that game).

This game was a blow out b/c Jaylen Brown was able to match Kawhi offensively (actually went for 50!) and harassed him on defense, Lopez is terrible and LAC couldn’t guard the 3 pt line. Kawhi struggled to get clean looks and Harden seems to have worn down after his efforts earlier in the season.

The big news, however, is the DJJ injury. He’s going to miss another 20 games, and LAC frankly needs to be 14-6 or better on this upcoming stretch to have a shot at something decent.

Without DJJ, the team will (and should) turn more to Sanders, Miller, YKN and Christie. We still don’t know when Bogi will be back.

I think it’s time for LAC to make some real moves to use this season to look to the future. One of those moves should be to trade/cut Brook Lopez and CP3’s contract. Zu/YKN needs to be the center rotation. Lopez doesn’t feature in the team’s plans and he’s basically John Wall 2.0. He’s washed.

I don’t know that I would make any other trades unless we got good offers for Harden or Kawhi that involved good draft capital.

By: mlslaw1

mlslaw1 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 20:15:29 +0000

I know about Brown but why can’t anyone deal/limit White? We made him look super and — he’s not.

By: mlslaw1

mlslaw1 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 20:14:17 +0000

Outclassed.

By: Thretch

Thretch — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 19:54:27 +0000

I should have predicted that Jaylen would have a monster game. He has a burr up his britches about not being player-of-the month, or being in the MVP conversation. And he’s definitely deserved consideration for all that. But he was itching to prove himself.

By: Thretch

Thretch — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 19:52:38 +0000

Honestly – i don’t expect much in return for Kawhi/Harden. Just moving off their contracts, getting younger, restocking the roster is an asset in itself.

Obviously there should be some draft capital or decent players in return. But the reset itself is a move for the future.

Said another way, we have no short term future or long term future … so a “sell off” or “blow up” has little downside.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 18:24:00 +0000

This is probably me trying to cope w/ this waste of a season, but I do think it could be worth it to the right team to trade for Kawhi/Harden – adding Kawhi to say Detroit, and/or Harden to Houston would instantly turbocharge their chances. Obviously that depends on what the Clips’ asking price is, and I’m not confident Ballmer would give the greenlight, so this hypothetical is in all likelihood just gonna stay a hypothetical.

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 07:55:54 +0000

The biggest take away from this game to me is that despite how great they’ve been on average this season, neither Kawhi or Harden would be worth trading for. JB and Derrick white flat out smoked them at both ends and no one is swapping out $40-$50 million on either of these guys.

I expect we will probably make the play in and I like our chances of getting to the guillotine round against OKC. But that might be all we got now.

It will be fun to stomp the warriors Monday though. Guaranteed!!!

By: Josh Smith

Josh Smith — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 05:47:30 +0000

From a five point game to a 31 point game in 15 minutes. Wow.

By: Josh Smith

Josh Smith — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 05:44:11 +0000

24-51 from three for Boston. Wow.

By: Josh Smith

Josh Smith — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 05:39:50 +0000

Sounds like they are playing at the Boston Garden.