BY: VENANCIO VALENCIA — SPORTS ON AIR — CORRESPONDENT
LOS ANGELES — The Boston Celtics entered the Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night playing their third game in four days, including an OT thriller against the LA Clippers just 24 hours before.
The Lakers were quick to pounce on the defending champions and jumped to a 67-48 halftime lead before cruising to a 117-96 victory in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,997.
Anthony Davis provided the muscle inside with 24 points and 8 rebounds. LeBron James fashioned out another near triple-double with 20 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists while Austin Reaves swished four triples to finish with 23.
Kristaps Porzingis, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum combined for 55 points to fuel Boston’s offense but the Celtics hit only 14-of-41 from 3 and couldn’t keep up with the rampaging Lakers who also got a combined 25 points off the bench from Dalton Knecht and Gabe Vincent.
After dropping four of six games lately, the Lakers bounced back with their second win in a row and coach J.J. Redick couldn’t be happier with his team’s defense.
“I thought that was one of, if not the best, games in terms of executing our defensive game plan. Not overreacting to Porzingis making a few turnaround jumpers. Like I said pregame, you have to be able to live with stuff,” Redick said at his postgame press conference.
The Lakers held the Celtics to just 38.5 percent from the field (35-of-91) while limiting Brown and Tatum to just 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla acknowledged the brutal stretch of his team’s schedule but refused to make it an excuse.
“I mean, I’m sure that may have played a small part but it’s not an excuse. That’s part of the game.”
