LOS ANGELES — The Lakers overwhelmed the Celtics right from tipoff, draining 3-pointers while the visitors never looked comfortable offensively. While Los Angeles has endured its ups and downs, the Lakers clearly played the better game Thursday over the Celtics.
The final result was a 117-96 result in favor of the Lakers. The 21-point win also doubles as their largest margin of victory over the C’s since Feb. 3, 2007. Back then, the Lakers beat the Celtics 122-96 in Los Angeles to drop the C’s to 13-41. In present day, the Lakers downed the reigning champs.
Despite the feel-good victory, Lakers star LeBron James downplayed the impact of one game. Even before the reporter got off their full question, James quickly shot down any implication it was bigger than just one win.
“No,” James said. “Nope. It sure don’t. I could tell with the enthusiasm in your voice and I’ve heard that question way too many times in my career. It’s one game. They hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy. We’re trying to aspire to get there. We want to just continue to work our habits, work our game.”
The Lakers clearly frustrated the Celtics right from tipoff. They were also 11-for-20 on 3-pointers compared to the Celtics’ 6-for-20 mark by halftime. Boston attempted a comeback, cutting down a 21-point lead down to 12 early in the third quarter. That’s when the Lakers locked down defensively as the Celtics went scoreless for a stretch that lasted 4:34 in the third, all but extinguishing their hopes.
The C’s just didn’t have the juice nor legs to put together a real comeback attempt afterwards. By late in the fourth quarter, C’s coach Joe Mazzulla unloaded his bench. Boston also played its fifth game in seven nights, which included a cross-country flight. The C’s won’t use that as an excuse, but it also partially explained why the reigning champs looked flat against their rivals. The Celtics shot 38.5% from the field Thursday, putting up 96 points, their second-lowest total of the season.
“I’m not concerned but it’s a part of just navigating the year,” Jaylen Brown said. “Anything can happen. We just need to finish through the All-Star break strong and then get ready to gear up going in towards the playoffs and just continue to stay with it, stay the course, because I feel like we’re still the best team out there. We’ve just gotta put it all together.”
The Celtics are also mired in an inconsistent stretch, which is quickly creeping to a two-months-long malaise. The C’s were just 8-6 in December — they dropped to 7-5 in January after Thursday’s loss. There have been varying problems during this stretch, whether it’s been fourth-quarter execution, effort issues or otherwise. The Lakers, on the flip side, get a win over their rivals as they’ve dealt with their own game-to-game struggles.
One game doesn’t make a trend for either side, which James was quick to point out. It’s still only late-January, meaning the NBA Playoffs aren’t for another three months as a lot will change for both teams. All the C’s can do now is to look at the next game after another loss.
“Each game presents its own opportunities,” Brown said. “It’s been a tough month in January for us. We’ve just gotta continue to stay the course. We can’t really make excuses about why we’ve dropped games. We’ve probably dropped some games we should have won. But at this point of the year, we’ve just gotta put our best foot forward.”
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