The NBA’s hottest teams will meet Monday night when the Boston Celtics take on the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.
Each team will enter Monday’s matchup with a five-game winning streak. The team that wins Monday’s game will own the NBA’s longest winning streak.
Both teams will be playing their second game in as many days.
Boston extended its streak with a 107-105 victory over Minnesota on Sunday. Jaylen Brown tossed in 29 points for the Celtics, who improved their home record to 6-2.
“I haven’t shot the ball to start off the season as well as I would have liked,” Brown said. “I feel like I’m due for a lot of makes. I feel like my shots were good. I feel like I’m a great shooter, but also feel like I’m great at other things as well — getting to the basket, getting to the paint, drawing opportunities for my guys. So it’s just a balance. It’s a long season and I’m just focused on trying to rack up wins.”
Brown was 10 of 18 from the floor and 7 of 10 from 3-point range. He scored Boston’s first 15 points on five 3-pointers.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla also praised Brown for his defensive effort, particularly his defense on Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards on the game’s final possession.
“Yeah, it’s great to have a player of his caliber take defense to another level and take matchups,” Mazzulla said. “When your best players are some of your best defenders, it can kind of set the tone for your team in the locker room defensively. So, he takes pride in individual matchups, and he did a great job defensively.”
The Clippers received 23 points and eight assists from James Harden in beating Philadelphia 125-99 Sunday night. The Clippers raised their road record to 4-3.
Ivica Zubac added 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers.
“We run plays for him just to try and get him touches and establish Zu on the low block,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said of Zubac. “When he’s the anchor of your defense you gotta keep him happy. Having him block shots, having him blitzing pick and rolls, having him be the anchor and talking on the back side, you have to reward him with some touches, and so we’ve been able to do that.”
Los Angeles has held each of its past four opponents — Golden State, Orlando, Sacramento and Philadelphia — under 100 points. The Clippers are 6-0 on the season when the other team scores fewer than 100.
“You know right now we’re just working hard, playing together, trying to do the right things on the floor and right now it’s paying off,” Kris Dunn said.
Norman Powell missed his third consecutive games Sunday while dealing with a sore hamstring. Powell leads the Clippers in scoring (23.3 points per game).
Boston center Luke Kornet didn’t play Sunday because of a hamstring injury. Al Horford did play against Minnesota, but he likely will sit out Monday’s game since he typically doesn’t play in both games when the Celtics play on consecutive days.
