Boston requires some specialty defense and competition items, as well as hyper-precision and effort. It’s good for the Clippers to get a look at what a team with talent, varied weapons, motivations and focus can do. The Celtics probably got a lot better and had clearer focus and goals after the Clippers blew them out last year–not that there are a lot of similarities. But this was good for the Clippers, a good test and constructive failure.

Getting past it, having Washington up next is a blessing. The Minnesota (Friday) and Denver (Sunday) games will be the reality check.

Nice to see TMann shoot. JMiller is progressing nicely. Kobe was good in his brief stint.

Let’s start a new win streak.

Another reason the Celtics won this game is they made Dunn play on both sides of the ball. He had a tough time in his 1 v 1 match up and on a number of possessions every time he turned his head to play the passing lane the ball went back to his primary assignment (in some cases Jaylen Brown) and got cooked.

Zu was great, but that was probably by design. Porzingis forced Zu out of the lane on multiple possessions w/the deep ball threat. Just a very tough match up for the Clips to deal with.

Harden and KPJ weren’t bad, but in this kind of game that iso-ball, slow it down, take a tough 2 in the lane isn’t going to work. Both guards needed to create a mutiplier effect on the floor but weren’t able to.

Was glad to see the play of Jordan Miller and Terance Mann. They both played well together. I think Mann had some good match ups against Jaylen Brown and Derek White. He’s starting to get more decisive offensively as he put up 11 shots, got 6 rebs and created nice shot opportunities for others. Had he been doing that from Game 1, his role and playing time wouldn’t be up in the air. He’s got to be a better fit when Harden is on the floor. If you’re going to set that high screen, roll to the high elbow hard and be that secondary ball handler to make the entry pass to Zu or DJJ or take that 3/drive. Don’t just float into the paint and try to get a pass through the trees (it ain’t comin’).

A lineup that might’ve worked against the Celtics could’ve been Mann, Dunn, Zu, DJJ, Harden or Mann, Coffey, Zu, DJJ, Harden/Dunn. Mann matches up well physically with the athletic combo guards and wings of Boston (Brown, Jrue, White). The pace at which Boston plays at is ideal for Mann’s stye of play. If Norm had been available, putting him on with Mann, Dunn, DJJ, Zu could’ve given the Cs some trouble. If you want to beat the Celtics there is no substitute for finding 4 guys who can match up with their interchangeable, positionless players (and that includes Pritchard who is a very skilled role player) + a big. I don’t think the 5 guys Lue put out there at times were up to that task defensively.

Boston, OKC, Houston provide difficult challenges for the Clips. It’s one game. Time to rest up and go get that win in Washington.