Collins talks about his success at the five and what the team needs to do better after their six-game winning streak came to an end against the Boston Celtics.
The Los Angeles Clippers saw their season-best six-game winning streak come to a hard stop on Saturday night when the Boston Celtics came to town and walked away with a 146-115 victory at Intuit Dome.
Despite a team-high 22 points from John Collins on near-perfect shooting, it was not enough to stop Jaylen Brown and the Celtics from taking control early and never letting up.
Collins Talks About His Role at the Five
After the game, Collins was asked about his success playing at the small-ball five position and he gave credit to the coaching staff for putting him in spots to make an impact while also being honest about what went wrong for the Clippers (12-22).
"Just the way they played defensively. Obviously, our scout and what we were trying to do," Collins said. "And obviously with Coach Lue putting me at the five and just creating so much space for guys like Kawhi [Leonard] and James [Harden] to do their thing. Or if guys load up the kick out was wide open tonight and guys did their job and tried to hit shots but it's not enough on one end. We have to play a full game on both ends to win and we didn't do that tonight."
Collins has been one of the bright spots for the Clippers throughout their recent stretch and once again showed why on Saturday.
The 28-year-old veteran tied Kawhi Leonard for the team lead in scoring and did so with an efficient 9-of-10 shooting night from the field while also knocking down all three of his three-point attempts.
On the season, Collins is averaging 12.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 53.0 percent from the floor.
Celtics Prove Too Much to Handle
The Celtics (22-12) came into the game riding a wave of momentum and Jaylen Brown was on a mission after being snubbed for Eastern Conference Player of the Month.
Brown tied his career high with 50 points on an incredible 18-of-26 shooting, while Derrick White added 29 points as Boston shot 55.2 percent from the field and made 24 three-pointers in the blowout win.
The Clippers actually held their own with the ball, shooting 50 percent from the field and knocking down 15 threes, but they could not slow down the Celtics attack in any way that mattered.
Boston scored 42 points in the first quarter and never looked back as they pulled away in the second half to end what had been the longest winning streak in the league.
Looking Ahead
Collins and the Clippers do not have much time to dwell on the loss because they face another tough test right away when they host the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.
The message from Collins was that even when the offense is clicking, it means nothing if the defense does not show up.
The veteran forward has found success in his small-ball role this season and Coach Tyronn Lue has leaned on him to create space for the team's stars.
With players like James Harden and Leonard on the roster, the talent is there but Collins knows that playing on both ends of the floor is what will make the difference going forward as the Clippers try to climb back up in the Western Conference standings.