The Boston Celtics have had a season of dominating at home, but Saturday night at TD Garden they had a rare bad game.

What Jrue Holiday called a “good, old-fashioned ass-whooping” was what the LA Clippers gave them by beating them 115–96.

It had been more than two years since the Brooklyn Nets beat the Celtics by a score of 123–104 on November 24, 2021.

To put it another way, this was just a strange event. Even more so because the Celtics weren’t fully healthy because Kristaps Porzingis hurt his ankle.

It didn’t seem like an accident that this kind of play came right after Thursday’s historic offensive showing in Miami, where his Celtics shot the ball more efficiently than any other team in NBA history in a 143-110 win.

But he also thinks that such a divisive two-game stretch can be good because it can help a team stay grounded.

“It’s more about maintaining balance, right?” Mazzulla brought it up.  “I don’t think it was a coincidence that the two extremes happened right after each other. I think those can be gifts if you look at them the right way; they can keep you balanced, humble, and in check.” “You’re not as good or bad as you think you are.”

This line of thinking could also be used to explain why the Celtics beat the Clippers 145–108 in the first game of the season series at Crypto.com Arena.

There is a negative view of hardship because it is always seen as something bad that happens to you, Mazzulla said. “But one of the hardest things for me is to win all the time and deal with success.” And being able to handle winning is just as hard as being able to handle loss. But I think you should only worry about how good your team is, and our guys will get better.

Holiday agreed with him that this kind of game can help a team build character. It was a fun one that they will remember.

The experienced point guard said, “I think it’s important to be able to come home and get your butt kicked.” “But we know the season is going to be long.” We know this is something we can learn from and are keeping it to ourselves. It will always be in our minds when we play well the next game.

It wasn’t all bad.

With 21 points and 11 rebounds, Jayson Tatum had a double-double. Boston made it hard for Paul George (17 points on 5 of 11 shooting), James Harden (9 points on 2 of 11 shooting), and Russell Westbrook (4 points on 2 of 9 shooting) to score. At the beginning and end of the game, its defense was strong. And the bench team came alive in the last frame, scoring 36 points to 24 for LA.

Paige Pritchard scored 12 points and grabbed 4 rebounds to lead the second group. Luke Kornet scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds, four of which were to his own basket. Neemias Queta and Lamar Stevens each had eight points and five rebounds, and they made seven out of eight shots from the field. A few 3-pointers were made by both Sam Hauser and Svi Mykhailiuk. So did Oshae Brissett, who scored five points and grabbed five boards.

Tatum said of the bench, “Wow, those guys are really good.” “They are always ready when their number is called, whenever the chance comes up. Even tonight, when the game was getting closer to being over, they still came in and gave it their all.” That was great to see.”

What about the rest of the game? Tatum says the best way to move on is to accept what happened and get ready for their next game against the Pelicans in New Orleans.

He told her, “Take it on the chin and get ready to play Monday.”