The Lakers lost in a gruesome fashion tonight during a 105-126 loss, despite both sides being short-handed in what could have been an epic rivalry clash against the Celtics in Boston. But the Celtics, who likely do not have Jayson Tatum for the rest of the season, came out all guns blazing against the Lakers, who did not have Luka Doncic or LeBron James available tonight.
Following the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick spoke to the media and explained what the Celtics did right to beat the Lakers, who were on the second night of a back-to-back sequence of games.
“Yeah, look, expected score, we were down to it at halftime. Expected score, we won by two in the first half, we had the highest paint touch rate we’ve had in a half, I think, or one of the highest paint touch rates we’ve had.”
“We’ve been one of the best non-rim paint two teams in the league. We shot five for 13 there. They blitzed us from the three in that first half, and you know we outscored them by one in the last three quarters. Unfortunately, that’s not how basketball works, and you end up losing a game by 21.”
“So, I thought our fight was good, and you know there were a lot of moments when we certainly could have broken, and we didn’t, and it’s a credit to our guys,” said Redick during the postgame press conference.
Redick further spoke about the barrage of three-point shots that the Lakers eventually allowed and where their game plan went wrong.
“Yeah. I mean, look, Jaylen Brown is a low 30% off the dribble three-point shooter. He hits three threes in a row in the third quarter. Jordan Walsh, we were willing to live with, you know, his threes. We have to give up something. He hits four of them. We ended up getting a contest on three of them.”
Jaylen Brown, among six of the Celtics’ double-digit scorers tonight, led them with 30 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists in the game. He shot 10-of-22 from the field (45.5%).
“So, again, you have got to be willing to live with certain things, and they made us pay. And, you know, that’s you can talk about a game plan all you want, but you’ve got to be able to figure out what you’re willing to live with. And you know we’ve obviously done that many times, and they made us pay tonight.”
The Celtics shot 24-of-45 from three-point range as a team, as opposed to the Lakers going 13-of-35 from beyond the arc. This comparison highlights the stark difference in three-point shooting tonight, which Redick blames as the reason why the Celtics managed to blow out the Lakers tonight.
Boston outscored Los Angeles by 22 points in the first quarter alone (17-39), and the Lakers lost this game by 21 points. Therefore, the purple and gold franchise outscored the Celtics over the last three quarters of the game by one point. Redick sees that as a positive sign for the Lakers, who essentially got punched in the mouth right after tip-off.
Continuing their four-game winning streak, the Celtics have now improved their record to 14-9. They will face the Raptors on Sunday night. Meanwhile, the Lakers are now 16-6 for the regular season, as the third seed for the Western Conference. They are hoping to have Doncic back on the roster in the next game against the 76ers after the successful birth of his child.
