The Celtics are the favorites to win the championship when they’re whole, but they’re continuing to show they can still put up dominant performances when their best pieces are out.

And they’re proving that bad losses like Tuesday against the Warriors are an anomaly to their torrid start to the season.

The Celtics did not have Kristaps Porzingis, and they didn’t know they would have Jayson Tatum until an hour before tip. It did not matter against one of the NBA’s hottest teams. Tatum scored 30 points in his return from a one-game absence, and the C’s looked like they wanted to prove a point with an emphatic 145-108 victory over the Clippers on Saturday afternoon in front of a Boston-heavy crowd in Los Angeles.

Jaylen Brown added 24 points, Jrue Holiday produced another big performance with 20 points and seven assists, and Neemias Queta continued an impressive stretch in his extended opportunity with 14 points and 12 rebounds as the Celtics blew the doors off of the Clippers, who were without Kawhi Leonard and whose six-game home winning streak was snapped.

The Celtics struggled down the stretch without Porzingis in Tuesday’s loss to the Warriors but had no trouble on Saturday. They outworked the aging Clippers on the boards. And for a second consecutive game, they were unstoppable offensively. After scoring 145 points without Tatum in Wednesday’s win over the Kings, they went an absurd 25-53 for 3-point range in Saturday’s win as they generated 33 assists.

The C’s made another statement with these two wins – against two very good Western Conference teams – that were both rarely in doubt. Tatum scored 21 points before halftime, and the Celtics cruised in the second half as they led by as many as 39.