The Celtics nearly blew a gimme on Wednesday, but they pulled themselves together in overtime and defeated a short-handed Clippers team 117-113.
Here are the takeaways.
Jaden Springer completely changed the game.
The Celtics were getting cooked in the third quarter when Joe Mazzulla made a surprise move, sending little-used guard Jaden Springer in after a timeout to try to slow down Kevin Porter Jr.
Prior to Springer’s entrance, Porter was doing whatever he wanted against the Celtics. After scoring 11 points in the first half, Porter started getting to the rim at will at the beginning of the period.