A new week will start with many interesting games in the NBA and one of them is going to be between Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics. The Clippers have played 28 games this season and with 15 wins and 13 losses, they are in the 7th place in the Western Conference. The Celtics are the best team not only in the Eastern Conference but also in the whole league with 21 wins and just 6 losses. In this game, I'm backing up Boston.

The Clippers finally have gotten healthy but recent results are still poor. Kawhi Leonard has played 3 out of the last 4 games but he's limited to around 30 minutes per game. In the last 6 games, the Clippers have won only twice. One victory was in Charlotte after Kawhi's game-winner but on Saturday, they pulled off a win against struggling Washington who's missing Bradley Beal. This will be their first home game since November 3rd. Although they are back in LA, it has been a very tough schedule lately as this is going to be 4th game in 6 days.

While Boston is on the road for more than a week, it's going to be just their 3rd game in the last 6 days. On Saturday, they lost in the finals matchup against Golden State and it was a bad game for Jayson Tatum as he made only 21% of the shots. After the game, he stated that they can't blame anybody but themselves. The team is going to miss Al Horford but they have 6 wins in 7 games without the veteran.

The Clippers aren't the best home team as they have just 7 wins in 13 games. Boston is the best road team with 10 wins and only 4 losses. It is just the 6th time this season that Los Angeles is labeled as the home underdog. In the previous 5 times, the Clippers have won only twice. Boston has been the away favorite 12 times this season and in 8 games they won.

Probably it wouldn't be smart to compare full advanced stats because Leonard has missed a lot so let's look at the last 4 games. The Clippers have the 12th-best offense (113.2), 16th-best defense (114.3) and 16th-best net rating (-1.1). The Celtics have struggled a little bit on offense as they have just the 18th-best offense (111.1), 4th-best defense (105) and 5th-best net rating (6.1). In their past five games, the Clippers are ranked 6th in the league in three-point shooting (38.47%) and are shooting it at the 7th-highest rate (42.7% of field goals). However, the Celtics are one of the best teams at defending against the three. They are 3rd in the league in the opponent’s three-point rate allowed.

Boston is a better team overall and should get the job done. The Celtics will have 2 games in a row in Los Angeles but they have won all 5 games in the 1st leg of a back-to-back this season. Jayson Tatum should play better as he's taking his play to another level this season. Boston has covered the spread 63% this season while the Clippers only 46%.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

新的一周将以许多有趣的NBA比赛开始，其中一场将是洛杉矶快船队和波士顿凯尔特人之间的比赛。快船本赛季已经打了28场比赛，15胜13负，他们在西部排名第7。凯尔特人不仅是东部最好的球队，而且是整个联盟最好的球队，他们21胜6负。在这场比赛中，我支持波士顿队。

快船终于恢复了健康，但最近的成绩仍然很差。科怀·伦纳德在过去的4场比赛中打了3场，但他的场均上场时间被限制在30分钟左右。在过去的6场比赛中，快船只赢了2场。在卡哇伊的绝杀之后，他们在夏洛特取得了一场胜利，但在周六，他们战胜了失去布拉德利·比尔的苦苦挣扎的奇才队。这将是他们自11月3日以来的第一个主场比赛。虽然他们回到了洛杉矶，但最近的赛程非常艰难，因为这将是6天内的第四场比赛。

虽然波士顿凯尔特人已经在客场打了一个多星期，但这将是他们在过去6天里的第三场比赛。周六，他们在总决赛对阵勇士的比赛中失利，对杰森·塔图姆来说，这是一场糟糕的比赛，因为他的投篮命中率只有21%。赛后，他表示他们只能怪自己，不能怪任何人。球队将会想念霍福德，但是他们在没有这位老将的7场比赛中取得了6场胜利。

快船并不是最好的主场球队，他们在13场比赛中只赢了7场。波士顿是最好的客场球队，10胜4负。这是湖人本赛季第6次被贴上主场不被看好的标签。在过去的5次比赛中，快船只赢了两次。波士顿本赛季12次成为客场夺冠热门，并在8场比赛中获胜。

比较完整的高级数据可能不太明智，因为莱昂纳德错过了很多比赛，所以让我们看看最近4场比赛。快船拥有第12强的进攻(113.2)，第16强的防守(114.3)和第16强的净效率(-1.1)。凯尔特人在进攻上有点挣扎，他们的进攻(111.1分)排名第18，防守(105分)排名第4，净效率(6.1分)排名第5。在过去的五场比赛中，快船的三分球命中率(38.47%)排名联盟第6，命中率(42.7%)排名联盟第7。然而，凯尔特人在防守三巨头方面是最好的球队之一。他们在对手的三分失分率上排名联盟第三。

波士顿整体上是一支更好的球队，应该完成任务。凯尔特人将在洛杉矶连续两场比赛，但他们在本赛季背靠背的首回合比赛中赢下了所有5场比赛。杰森·塔图姆本赛季应该打得更好，因为他将自己的表现提升到另一个水平。凯尔特人本赛季已经覆盖了63%的差距，而快船只有46%。