The Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics rivalry gave NBA fans another classic on Saturday night, with the defending champions just squeezing by with a 96-95 win. The end of the game also showcased the kind of heart-racing finish that fans expect from a marquee matchup between the two most storied franchises in the league.
LA, which held a one-point lead, had possession late in the fourth quarter with an eight-second difference between the game clock and the shot clock. The team went to Anthony Davis down on the block.
As Davis made his move, Kemba Walker stripped the ball, which led to a fastbreak opportunity for Boston on the other end.
The Celtics swung the ball around until they found Walker momentarily open beyond the arc. Dennis Schroder closed out well, which forced Kemba to put the ball on the deck. The veteran guard then pulled out his patented step-back shot with less than three seconds remaining. The All-Star playmaker got a clean look from the wing, but the shot just rimmed out. Daniel Theis also had another opportunity to win the game for the Celtics over the Lakers with a put-back, but he just came up short in the end.
Watch the crazy sequence below:
WILD SEQUENCE to close out a WILD GAME in Boston…the @Lakers hang on for the win! #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/HymdynLFxt
— NBA (@NBA) January 31, 2021
That was certainly a shot that Kemba Walker has made a thousand times in his career. Unfortunately, it just did not go down. Theis also had his chance, but the ball just did not go Boston's way.
The Celtics started out the quarter with a seven-point lead, but they found themselves trailing the Lakers by seven with less than two minutes remaining. They made a furious comeback down the stretch, with Jayson Tatum making two clutch buckets within the last minute and change.
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