No LeBron James or Anthony Davis? No problem for the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday as they captured a wire-to-wire 114-105 victory on the road over the Boston Celtics.
Austin Reaves led all scorers with 32 points as the Lakers didn’t look like a team playing without its two best players. LA led by 14 at the half and by as much as 16 during the second half, handing the Celtics their second home loss of the season.
It was a result that not many saw coming and the Celtics would have been favored even if James and Davis both played. Former Celtics player and current NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins didn’t mince words when he gave his thoughts on Boston's performance.
“The Celtics should be ashamed of themselves!!! I guess Bron and AD been holding the Ham and the Lakers back lol. Carry the hell on,” Perkins said on X.
Jayson Tatum scored 23 points and Sam Hauser added 17 off the bench for the Celtics, but three Boston starters were held to single-digits. Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday combined for 25 points on 12-of-32 shooting. The trio made one of its 10 3-point attempts.
What went wrong for the Celtics?
The difference in the game can be seen simply by looking at the box score. The Lakers buried over half of their 36 shots from beyond the arc while the Celtics struggled from deep, shooting 33.3 percent. LA also dominated the turnover battle, forcing Boston into 15 turnovers to the visitor's seven.
The difference in discipline between both sides was evident as well. The Lakers committed eight fouls as a team compared to the Celtics' 19 giving LA a massive advantage in free throws. The Lakers were 19-for-26 from the charity stripe while the Celtics attempted only seven free throws, hitting all of them.
The reception from the Celtics locker room is that they're not taking much from this game. Kristaps Porzingis reminded fans that it was a regular season game and it's not quite time to hit the panic button.
The Celtics may try to move past this loss as soon as possible, but they could probably learn a thing or two by looking back at the game film. Regardless, the Lakers have to be feeling good about stealing one from their biggest Eastern Conference rivals, while the Celtics have to put this one behind them and finish strong heading into the All-Star break.
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