LOS ANGELES — When the final buzzer struck Wednesday night, Luke Kornet knew whom he needed to congratulate first. Standing near the Boston Celtics bench, he briefly pumped both fists in the air before quickly spinning around to find Jaden Springer.
For much of the game, the Celtics had lacked energy and defensive bite against an extremely shorthanded Los Angeles Clippers team. But late in the third quarter, with Kevin Porter Jr. shredding the Boston defense, Joe Mazzulla called on Springer to take the talented guard away. Over 20 minutes the rest of the way, easily a season-high for playing time, Springer racked up four steals, drilled two clutch 3-pointers and broke up the Los Angeles offense’s rhythm. Kornet believed the Celtics prevailed in overtime, 117-113, because of the lift they received from Springer.
“He hasn’t been able to play a whole lot this far,” Kornet said. “For him to come in and really lead us to that win, I feel like it was something worth celebrating.”
Luke Kornet shows love to Jaden Springer after the game pic.twitter.com/lVzxBk43Ho
— Jack Simone (@JackSimoneNBA) January 23, 2025
The Celtics celebrated Springer’s performance together. As he prepared to address the media after the game, Jayson Tatum screamed out, “Way to play, Spring!” Sam Hauser walked by the big news conference crowd with a huge smile on his face. The Boston players loved to see Springer, who entered the game with just 76 minutes played this season, enjoying his moment. Without him, they might have walked away with another disappointing loss in an extended stretch of inconsistency. But with his rugged play, he picked them up.
“That was awesome,” Kornet said. “It was also just incredible watching him guard on-ball and just, from the second he came in, just kind of shutting down guys and just putting a lot of pressure on them and forcing turnovers and all that. For us to get that boost from him, and then for him to be able to make a couple of corner 3s for us and then just on both ends of the floor really contribute, yeah, I really feel like he just changed the dynamic of the game out there with what he did.”
The Celtics trailed 78-75 when Springer checked in with 4:18 left in the third quarter. Porter Jr. already had 24 points, including 13 in the quarter. About a minute later, the Clippers guard went at Springer for the first time. Terrence Mann approached to set a screen, but Springer stayed attached to Porter Jr.’s body, shuffled his feet to cut off Porter Jr.’s drive and poked the ball away with his left hand.
In the scramble to pick up the loose ball and find a teammate, Springer lost possession right back to the Clippers. That didn’t stop him from continuing to wake up the Celtics. Moments later, he stripped Derrick Jones Jr. in transition and drew two free-throw attempts at the other end of the court. Springer then ended the third quarter with another steal, his third in less than four minutes.
The Celtics needed a jolt. Joe Mazzulla sensed it. That’s why he gave Springer a chance. The fourth-year pro entered the game low enough on the depth chart that both Jordan Walsh and rookie Baylor Scheierman received first-half opportunities, but Springer didn’t. He might not have played at all in the second half, either, but the Celtics needed someone to give their defense an edge. Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Kristaps Porziņģis were out. Jaylen Brown said he felt a step slow after rolling his ankle in the second quarter.
The Celtics needed Springer’s gifts.
“He’s just got an innate skill to impact the game with his physicality, his defense, and I thought that’s what the game needed at the time,” said Mazzulla. “I thought their guards were a little too comfortable, and he has an ability to really change the game that way. Hats off to him. I think it’s one of the best things you can do in this league is to just deliver when your name is called, regardless of when it is. So it’s a credit to him and the work ethic that he has. I thought it was his defense, his physicality, his presence (that) changed the game for us.”
After Springer checked in, Porter. only scored two more points the rest of the game — and those came on a jumper over Brown. The Clippers drilled a 3-pointer on their opening possession of the third quarter, but went scoreless for the next 7:09. Midway through the fourth quarter, another Springer strip of Porter brought the Celtics bench to its feet. Porter’s aggression never returned.
“You can see it,” Springer said. “You can see they stop drawing up plays for them a little bit. They keep them off the ball. You can read the body language, like, he’s frustrated. So you can see stuff like that. But they had a team full of great guys and had it going tonight. So it was fun to go out there and compete.”
The Celtics still needed to save themselves in overtime after botching the final minute of regulation. They led by six points with one minute left, by four points with 15 seconds remaining and by two points with the shot clock turned off, but a bad Brown pass set up Jones to tie the game on a fast-break layup with 4.2 seconds left. After his basket, the Celtics failed to produce a shot on the final possession of regulation. Tatum found Derrick White without enough time to release a potential game-winning bucket.
The Celtics will need to fix their recent crunch-time issues, but the ugly final minute at least allowed Springer to add to his big game. He entered the game without a 3-point make on the season, but he drilled his second of the night from the corner with 34.4 seconds left to extend the Celtics lead to 115-110. Tatum, who assisted the basket, trusted Springer in one of the game’s biggest moments.
“Basketball’s about making reads — the right reads,” Tatum said. “They left him open, the guy in the corner. You’ve gotta make the right play. He stepped up big time tonight and knocked some big shots down and got some stops. Spring was unbelievable tonight.”
Tatum thought the outing spoke volumes about the way Springer has approached his season outside of the rotation.
“Super impressive,” Tatum said. “It’s just being the ultimate professional. You never know when you’re going to play. Game’s not going the way it’s supposed to or we expect. And Joe calls your number to come shut somebody down and give us a spark off the bench. And he did that.”
The Celtics loved seeing Springer capitalize on his rare chance. They needed his defense. They needed his energy. He might not play a lot, but his combination of physicality and lateral quickness shut off the switch to the Clippers offense.
“It’s (so impressive) that you can just kind of go, ‘Hey, go guard him and don’t get screened,’” Kornet said. “He just gets after it, and it’s pretty engaging to watch.”
Kornet was happy enough for Springer to go back to celebrate with him a second time after the final buzzer. After initially shoulder-bumping Springer on one end of the court, Kornet found him again around mid-court and nailed him with a hard shove. The big man just wanted to share his appreciation for Springer’s big game and all the behind-the-scenes work that made it possible. If Kornet was a little violent while showing some love, he wasn’t going to apologize for that.
“He’s a dog,” Kornet said, “so he can take it.”
Sign up to get The Bounce, the essential NBA newsletter from Zach Harper and The Athletic staff, delivered free to your inbox.
(Photo of Jayson Tatum driving to the basket against Derrick Jones Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr.: Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)
