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Rivers, Clippers entertain Celtics in L.A.

Jan 8, 2014 - 3:31 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Doc Rivers will face his old team on his new homecourt Wednesday night as the Los Angeles Clippers welcome the Boston Celtics to Staples Center.

Rivers spent nine seasons at the helm in Boston and guided the Celtics to a 416-305 regular-season record and the 17th championship in club history. After a decision by the Celtics to rebuild, Rivers was traded to the Clippers in an unconventional move this past summer for a 2015 first-round draft pick.

On Dec. 11, Rivers returned to Boston and left with an emotional 96-88 victory. The venue will be different, thus, the emotions will be toned down a bit.

"It'll be a little different, it's here, it's not there. That's a big difference," Rivers said after practice on Tuesday.

Rivers has had a busy few days. When Chris Paul went down with a shoulder injury last week, the Clippers needed guards, so on Tuesday, they released Stephen Jackson and signed Darius Morris to a 10-day contract.

Rivers hinted more moves were to come.

The Clips have won three of four, including a 101-81 home drubbing of the Orlando Magic on Monday.

Darren Collison scored a season-high 21 points and dished out seven assists and Blake Griffin poured in 16 points to go with eight rebounds and six assists. DeAndre Jordan added 14 points, 17 boards and eight blocks for LA.

"I'm just in the right spots. I can control how hard I work defensively. I like the pressure. When we focus on getting stops, we get a lot of easy buckets," said Jordan.

The Celtics have struggled badly, losing five in a row. Wednesday's game will mark the third of a brutal five-game road trip. The C's have already lost in Oklahoma City and on Tuesday, got clobbered by the Denver Nuggets, 129-98.

"Today was disappointing. That is two games in a row that I have been really disappointed," said C's coach Brad Stevens.

It won't get easier with the Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers left on the sojourn.

"We are going to have to play really well to beat these teams on the road. Everybody is going to have to play close to an A-game," said Stevens.

Earlier Tuesday, the Celtics acquired guard Jerryd Bayless from Memphis and forward Ryan Gomes from Oklahoma City in a three-team trade, sending guard Courtney Lee and a 2016 second-round draft pick to Memphis. They waived Gomes.

Bayless scored six points in 25 1/2 minutes off the bench. The Celtics were led by 17 points from Jeff Green and 15 from Brandon Bass.

Boston's Jared Sullinger was ejected in the third quarter after picking up two Flagrant 1 fouls in 23 seconds.

"I've talked to him. I think he needs to analyze the film and figure out what is and what isn't working, and do his best to avoid those," Stevens said of Sullinger's fouls.

The Clippers have won three of five meetings with the Celtics and three of the last five at home.