Rivers was right about the free-throw line, although perhaps the message didn’t get through to his best players. During a decisive 14-0 Clippers run in the fourth quarter, there was Lillard guarding Harden after a timeout, hands where they weren’t supposed to be. Harden drew the 3-shot foul, knocking down all of his free throws:

Wednesday’s game between the Celtics and Clippers was highly entertaining. Boston required overtime to win despite having Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White in the lineup. The Clippers were down four starters (James Harden, Norman Powell, Kawhi Leonard, and Ivica Zubac), but the available players didn’t use that as an excuse.

Jaylen Brown scored 25 points, Jayson Tatum added 24 and the Boston Celtics rallied past the Los Angeles Clippers 117-113 in overtime when both teams were missing key players.

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James Harden scored 40 points and the Los Angeles Clippers overcame Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 127-117 on Saturday night.

DALLAS — Jayson Tatum scored 24 points, Derrick White added 23, including Boston’s first 11 of the third quarter, and the Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 122-107 on Saturday night in the first meeting between the teams since the NBA Finals.

James Harden scores 17 of his 40 points in the third quarter and Norman Powell has 33 points in the Clippers' 127-117 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

One night later, Boston players all but shrugged their shoulders after falling to the Lakers 117-96 on the second leg of a back-to-back. Kristaps Porziņģis, who has been critical of the Celtics after their worst games recently, sounded ready to dump the latest poor result into the nearest trash can and forget about it for good.

James Harden had 17 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds for his 79th career triple-double and the Los Angeles Clippers led all the way in routing the NBA-worst Washington Wizards 110-93 on Thursday night.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 117-113 in overtime. Both teams were shorthanded in this contest and Los Angeles nearly pulled off a shocking win.

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You never know when you’re going to play,” Jayson Tatum said. “Game’s not going the way it’s supposed to or we expect. Joe calls your number to come and shut somebody down and give us a spark off the bench,