The Clippers Crush Defenseless Boston; Kevin Durant Tears Out Dallas’ Heart

The Clippers have caught the momentum of an avalanche in this 15-game winning streak, and they’re apparently stopping for nobody, no matter their reputation. The Celtics are only six months removed from losing in heartbreaking fashion to Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals, but Los Angeles made Boston look irrelevant and old in a 106-77 crush-job at Staples Center. The moment Chris Paul (eight points, 11 assists) threw an impossible alley-oop just a couple steps past DeAndre Jordan‘s pick in the first quarter — to which Jordan made an impossible catch-and-dunk by making up about 16 feet in two steps — we wondered if this was going to be a rout. Lately the Clips’ games have resembled a breakaway train that blows by each stop, simply gaining speed and daring foes to try to slow them down. The C’s just weren’t that team Thursday night — though maybe it’s not an indictment, because there are only a handful of teams that could have. By the time Blake Griffin (15 points) was done feeling his oats and stepping back on three first-quarter jumpers, the Clips were up 15 halfway through the first. Relief doesn’t come for opponents with the arrival of L.A.’s bench right now, either, not with Jamal Crawford (17 points) making banked layups with his back to the basket going baseline, or beating the shot clock with a rainbow triple. Matt Barnes has been magnificent, too, in this 15-game stretch, getting 21 off the bench Thursday and six on threes from the left wing in a crucial second-quarter stretch. Boston looked to be righting its ship when his triples held 11- and 12-point leads for L.A. Instead of single-digit anxiety for the Clippers, it was more of the same runaway train. … Kevin Garnett (16 points, four boards) may have had a sweet turn-around J like Christian Laettner to end the first quarter, but his non-factor night on the boards is a microcosm of Boston’s troubles. The C’s are eighth in defensive rebounding percentage but dead last in offensive rebounding rate. There wasn’t even a silver lining in Rajon Rondo to report after this one: His largely disconnected 34 minutes resulted in 10 points, six assists and four turnovers. … Coach of the Month in November to unemployed coach in December. An 11-4 start, and a 3-10 finish, just wasn’t good enough for Avery Johnson in Brooklyn, fired by GM Billy King after he said he felt Johnson wasn’t reaching his team (read: Deron Williams). Citing the extremes the Nets played with — from winning streaks to infighting and losses — is certainly valid for why he was canned, but a team that prides itself on a bold, Prokhorovian vision would have done well to stick with this one a little longer. That’s just the rhythm of an NBA season. … Now, if the Nets can poach Montana’s biggest game, Phil Jackson, to coach then no one will care. … Hit the jump to read about Kevin Durant’s 40-point game. …

Right about the time Russell Westbrook got six straight points in overtime of Oklahoma City’s 111-105 win over Dallas, it felt like this was a turning-point game for the Mavericks. Either way you went it felt like either a lurch into fighting for a last playoff spot or the chance to start an inspired run. They got smoked by 39 in their last game, stewed over it for three days, then came out and made Oklahoma City look vulnerable for vast chunks of this game, going about 47 minutes between leads. For all their effort, the Mavs got hit over the head with a sledgehammer wielded by Kevin Durant (40 points, eight boards, five assists). His nasty crossover and dunk on Chris Kaman in the paint turned out to be just the appetizer for KD’s block at the rim and coast-to-coast slam on Kaman later. Just ridiculous. And still … it wasn’t the play of the game. Darren Collison found his early season form again with 32 points, and no bucket was more bizarre or beautiful than his game-tying three to beat the buzzer in regulation at 98. He took the pass from Shawn Marion, who realized he was inside the arc and needed a three, after Marion collected the inbounds pass once it caromed off Vince Carter. Collison only had a fraction of a second to shoot it, so he conjured the spirit of Derek “0.4” Fisher and sank a touch-three. … Don’t forget about Serge Ibaka‘s 19 points and 17 rebounds. … The NBA didn’t agree with Dwyane Wade‘s explanations that his contact with Ramon Sessions‘ groin was part of the game, and doled out a one-game suspension for the kick. The Lakers’ Dwight Howard, on the other hand, can play but was fined $35,000 for extreme face-guarding Denver’s Kenneth Faried on Wednesday, which led to his ejection. To be honest, it didn’t look all that bad one first or second glance to us. That’s not to excuse him putting his hand right in Faried’s face and expecting not to make contact, but it didn’t seem malicious. It seems the NBA would agree with that by not suspending him for Friday’s game against Portland. … Bad break for the Knicks, who lose Raymond Felton for 4-to-6 weeks with a fractured right pinkie finger. … We’re out like Avery.

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