PREVIEW: Clippers visit Celtics on Valentine's Day (4:30p, Prime Ticket)

Published Feb. 14, 2018 5:44 p.m. ET

4:30P: WATCH THE GAME ON FOX SPORTS GO

Former Celtics coach Doc Rivers was in Boston on Sunday for the Paul Pierce retirement ceremony.

His visit was not purely ceremonial and also gave him an interesting perspective on the game.

"I was more of a coach because we play Boston Wednesday, so I was sitting there as a complete coach and scout," Rivers said Monday, when his Los Angeles Clippers won in Brooklyn. "But it still was really interesting to do that. I may have to do that more. It was really cool. I got a lot out of it, I really did."

The Clippers have won four of their last five games and are 4-2 since the mega deal that sent Blake Griffin to the Detroit Pistons, for a package that included former Celtic Avery Bradley, who makes his second return of the season to the TD Garden.

DeAndre Jordan, the big man and center of all kinds of rumors before the deadline, wasn't moved and had 16 points and 17 rebounds in Monday's victory that saw the visitors led by seven players in double figures.

"I think a lot of people slept on us when we got all these players but I think we're getting better and better," Los Angeles guard Austin Rivers said.

The Clippers are 12-5 in their last 17 games. They are 29-26 on the season, 2-1 on their current seven-game road trip.

They're going in the opposite direction of the Celtics, who were hammered by the Cleveland Cavaliers on Paul Pierce retirement night, their second loss in three days on their home floor.

Brad Stevens' team, once 16-2 after a 16-game winning streak, has gone 22-15 since reaching 18-3. At 40-18, they trail Toronto by one game for the division and conference leads.

Boston has missed the defensive intensity of Marcus Smart, who has been out after lacerating his right hand on a picture frame in an L.A. hotel room last month after missing a shot that would have beat the Lakers.

The next night, on the same Staples Center floor, Boston beat the Clippers.