LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers were able to avenge their worst loss of the season on Sunday by getting the best of the archrival Boston Celtics. Anthony Davis played a major role in this victory with a team-high 32 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks.
The Lakers superstar helped clinch the victory from the free-throw line, and his performance left quite an impression on Celtics up-and-comer Jaylen Brown.
“He's a monster down there, man, and nothing short of it,” Brown said of Davis. “How physical he is, how big he is. When we played them the first time, he was coming off injury, and Brad [Stevens] told me that was the challenge. He wanted to see me step up tonight. He was every bit of what he was, but I did the best job I could being physical with him, boxing him out, keeping him away from the basket, making him put it on the floor, getting foul calls and stuff like that. I think we did a great job defensively. That was a great game for us. For me, being able to go to different matchups in different scenarios like going to guard AD, and then going to guard LeBron and then going to guard those guards. It was a good game. It was a good atmosphere, but unfortunately, we didn't come out with the win.”
After being crushed by the Celtics last month by 32 points, the Lakers gave Boston all they could handle on Sunday afternoon. LeBron James also played a role in the team's win over the Eastern Conference heavyweights with 29 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds.
Davis talked about the Lakers pulling out the win over Boston. He praised the Celtics' effort considering the fact they had to play the Lakers without Kemba Walker.
“It was a fun game,” Davis said. “With or without Kemba, they're a tough team. They've proved they can win with him and they've proved they can win without him. To play a team like that, in your building, that playoff atmosphere is something that you want. You don't want to shy away from the moment. We just stayed with it. Whether they made runs or we made runs. We just stayed in the moment trying to complete the win, but we know how big this rivalry is … We wanted to make sure we came in here and got the win, especially [after] the way they beat us in Boston.”
With the win over the Celtics, the Lakers improved their record to 43-12 and maintained their five-game lead in the Western Conference over the Denver Nuggets, who sit in second place. This win was a step forward for Los Angeles as they continue to show they can compete with the elite teams in the league in the final stretch of the regular season.
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