2/13 Recap: Celtics get nail-biting, double-overtime victory over the Clippers winning 141-133

Jayson Tatum scored 39 points in the Celtics' 141-133 win over the Los Angeles Clippers prior to his first all-star appearance this Sunday night. Photo via the Boston Celtics on Twitter @celtics. 
After perhaps the definition of a back and forth match up, a first-quarter dominated by the combo of Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart, and an extra 10 minutes of dramatic overtime play, the Boston Celtics won an extremely contested game tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers with a final score of 141-133. Boston got their revenge on L.A. after losing another closely contested game back in November on their home turf. They now head into the all-star break in 3rd place in the eastern conference with a record of 38 wins and 16 losses.
Jayson Tatum came into this one on a mission after his disappointing scoring performance that arguably could have cost us the game against Houston and a winning streak in the process. This time out, Tatum scored a team-high 39 points in 47 minutes shooting 60.9% from the field. He also grabbed 9 rebounds in the process. He was THE reason the Celtics were able to pull this one out in overtime and I think it's safe to say he's elevated to another level. Now averaging 22 points on the season, Tatum heads into the all-star break looking more than ready for his first all-star appearance this upcoming Sunday night.
Next up is Kemba Walker, who after a pretty quiet first quarter came out in the second looking to keep the competitive game going. He went on to have an impressive overall game with a near triple-double performance, scoring 19 points with 9 rebounds and 7 assists. He also managed to add a couple of ankles to his resume with this big shot in the second overtime:
Briefly mentioned before, Marcus Smart had a pretty significant first quarter alongside Jayson Tatum. After falling down early to the Clippers with a score of 7-0, Smart hit two huge threes that helped the Celtics narrowly avoid an untimely Los Angeles lead. He did not shoot particularly well from three there on out, hitting just 35.7% (5-14) of his attempts from deep. He did, however, find his shooting hand once again in the second half and in overtime, finishing the night with an impressive 31 points and 4 steals.
He had an extremely quiet performance in regulation, but Gordon Hayward still had some HUGE plays in overtime and ended up contributing significantly to the hard-fought win. He scored 21 points with a team-high 13 rebounds. He had a tough shooting night but closed the game with a couple of big threes and a clutch block that sealed the win.
As for the Clippers, they had some massive performances helping them out in this one. It should come as no surprise that defending Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard had one of the best nights for L.A., scoring 28 points with 11 rebounds and 4 assists. However, the annual sixth man of the year candidate Lou Williams was virtually unstoppable off the bench and served as the singular reason this game was as close as it was. He had 35 points and 8 assists, battling with Jayson Tatum in the fourth quarter and overtime. Montrezl Harrell also chipped in off the bench with a very impressive 24 points and 13 rebounds. 

After such an incredible game like this, make sure to support Boston's representation in the all-star game this weekend where Kemba Walker will be starting for Team Giannis and Jayson Tatum will be coming off the bench for Team LeBron. The game will take place in Chicago on Sunday night (2/16) starting at 8 p.m. eastern time.

Check out a full highlight reel of tonight's matchup down below as well as the entire box score for both teams by clicking here.


You can follow Thomas Desmond on Twitter @td_654.