Only one evening after their dramatic time beyond regulation win towards the Clippers, the Boston Celtics took the court docket in Los Angeles as soon as once more, this time for a showdown with LeBron James and the Lakers. Enjoying their fifth sport in seven nights, although, the Celtics didn’t appear to have sufficient fuel for one more high-profile thriller. They fell behind Los Angeles early and by no means appeared to have the ability to make up the hole, struggling a troublesome 117-96 loss.
Kristaps Porzingis was seemingly the one Celtic with a pulse tonight, main the staff with 22 factors. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, having performed heavy minutes the evening earlier than, mixed to shoot simply 12-of-31 from the sphere. No one else fared significantly better, with Jrue Vacation, Derrick White and Al Horford all failing to report a couple of made basket. The Lakers dominated this staff, and didn’t appear to interrupt a sweat within the course of. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves every scored 20 factors or extra, whereas Gabe Vincent added 4 three-pointers off the bench.
The Celtics did the majority of their harm from deep within the early going. They related on 4 of their first six triples, an inexpensive offensive begin spearheaded by a red-hot Porzingis (11 first quarter factors), who at one level shook off a Joe Mazzulla substitution to purchase some additional early minutes towards the Lakers’ protection. The Latvian heart’s frontcourt adversary, Davis, led the way in which for Los Angeles, excelling on each ends with 9 factors and two early blocks. The Celtics ended the primary quarter trailing by 11, 34-23, after a poster dunk from James within the closing seconds.
The Celtics more and more gave the impression to be dragging as play resumed within the second quarter, to some extent undoubtedly because of the additional minutes on the entrance finish of the back-to-back. Their offense went ice chilly, with Payton Pritchard the one Celtic to attach on a three-pointer for practically 18 minutes of sport time after their torrid begin — a part of a 1-of-5 capturing begin for the reserve guard.
Los Angeles, in the meantime, seemed energized. James rattled the rim with one other spotlight reel dunk halfway by the quarter, and a 3 from Austin Reeves established a game-high 14-point lead for the Lakers. They hammered the Celtics all through the quarter, nailing practically 60% of their makes an attempt from behind the three-point line. On the halftime break, the Celtics discovered themselves going through an uphill battle, trailing Los Angeles 67-48.
As play resumed, the Celtics returned to the court docket with a little bit of pep of their step. The Lakers’ 19-point halftime benefit dwindled to 12 within the early minutes, as Boston discovered a rhythm offensively and compelled a JJ Redick timeout after a 6-0 run. Uncharacteristically, although, struggles on the free throw line prevented them from drawing inside single digits of the Los Angeles lead. Tatum and Brown each discovered their solution to the free throw line after the timeout, however the duo every missed each of their freebies. Two free throws from Davis and a Rui Hachimura layup later, and the Celtics have been again within the muck.
Although Tatum price the Celtics on the line, his improved play led them again into the sport to start with. The freshly minted All-Star starter had struggled for a lot of the primary half, with simply three factors to his title. Late within the second quarter, although, Tatum discovered a little bit of momentum, scoring 5 factors within the closing minutes. He constructed on that modest groove with a pair of threes early within the third quarter. The charity stripe dilemma overshadowed all, although, and the deflated Celtics scored simply six factors throughout the final seven minutes of the quarter, and entered the ultimate 12 minutes of regulation trailing by 15, 83-68.
The fourth quarter started and the Lakers christened it with a 12-2 run. That about put the sport to mattress for Boston tonight, as Joe Mazzulla referred to as timeout with the Celtics going through their largest deficit of all the season, down 25 factors. Mazzulla emptied the bench from there, and the Celtics fell to 30-14 on the NBA season.
Subsequent up, the Celtics will wrap up their four-game street journey with an NBA Finals rematch, visiting the Dallas Mavericks this Saturday at 5:30 PM EST on ABC.
