Clippers crush Boston

Brand grabbed 10 rebounds as well for the Clippers, who have won two of three. Corey Maggette scored 11 points and grabbed 11 boards, and Shaun Livingston scored 10 points.

Sebastian Telfair scored 18 points for the Celtics, who fell to their fourth straight loss. Gerald Green scored 17 points and grabbed seven boards for Boston, and Tony Allen scored 13 points for Boston. Al Jefferson scored 10 points and pulled down 14 boards for the Celtics.

Jefferson converted a three-point play to bring Boston to within 63-53 with 7:45 left in the third quarter, but LA answered with a 12-5 stretch, going up 75-58 on a driving dunk by Brand with 3:13 left in the third.

"We played hard on both ends tonight," said Thomas. "It’s all about defense first. We made some shots, but our defense was there."

A Maggette jumper put the Clippers up 85-64 with 10:31 left in the game, and the Celtics trailed by 20-plus points for the remainder of the game.

Brand and the Clippers hit the ground running in the first quarter. LA started the game with a 15-5 run, and led 25-9 after Brand converted a three-point play with 4:44 left in the first. Boston responded, though, closing the quarter on a 21-6 stretch to make a game of it. Telfair scored the last seven Celtics points, including two free throws to bring Boston to within 29-28, but Ewing hit a layup in the closing seconds of the quarter to send LA into the second holding a 31-28 advantage.

LA opened the second quarter with a 12-3 run. A Daniel Ewing jumper with just under seven minutes left in the quarter put the Clippers up 43-31. The Celtics deficit hovered around 10 points for most of the quarter, but a Livingston jumper with two seconds left put the Clippers up 55-43 going into halftime.

Game Notes

The Clippers tied a season-high with 11 blocks...Thomas’ 25 points were a season-high...The Clippers hit 50.7 percent from the field, compared to only 31.9 percent by Boston.