Post Game Lakers- Away

Celtics Wrap: Lakers Use Defense, Paint Presence To Defeat Boston
Jayson Tatum scored a game-high 34 points


NESN by Sean T. McGuire

The Los Angles Lakers turned in one of their best defensive performances this season and it helped lead to a 117-102 victory over the Jaylen Brown-less Boston Celtics on Tuesday at Staples Center.

The Celtics, who have now lost two of the three games on their Western Conference road trip, fell to 13-12 on the season. The Lakers, who entered the game allowing the second-most points to opponents, improved to 13-12.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Lakers had their way with the Celtics inside and benefitted from 17 points in transition (25 points off turnovers), despite a handful of Robert Williams highlights and a Jayson Tatum dunk over Russell Westbrook. LeBron James (13-for-19), Anthony Davis (7-for-13) and Westbrook (9-for-16) all were able to get some easy looks as the hosts scored 66 points in the paint while shooting 52% from the floor. It far-exceeded what Boston usually allows in the paint.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Jayson Tatum scored 21 of his game-high 34 points in the first half. The two-time All-Star shot 13-for-22 from the field (after making each of his first five shots) and added eight rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 34 minutes.


Celtics players not named Tatum didn’t do much.

— LeBron James did LeBron James things on Tuesday night. He started the game 7-for-9 from the field before concluding with a team-high 30 points on an efficient 13-for-19 from the field. James added five assists and four rebounds in the winning effort.


— Westbrook took over the game in the third quarter scoring 14 of his 24 points in the frame and allowing the Lakers to build their lead to 20 points. LA hit seven consecutive shots during the third quarter with Westbrook’s easy finishes helping that. He added 11 assists and three rebounds.


WAGER WATCH
Those who took the Over on Jayson Tatum’s points prop must have been thrilled with how the game started as Tatum scored Boston’s first 14 points of the game on 5-for-5 from the field. He turned that into 21 first-half points and surpassed his over/under 28.5 prop. A $110 bet would have made one bettor $100 richer, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.

UP NEXT
The Celtics will return to Staples Center on Wednesday on the second night of a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Clippers.

112288

Broken record. WOLOWOLT, 2nd verse same as the first, Forrest Gump box of chocolates. 1-2 on the West road trip so far. Not looking very good. Gap widens in the loss column every time we lose and everyone else above us wins. Slope to recover those losses becomes far more slippery each time we blow a game. Lakers needed this game more. We probably wanted it more pre-game then didn't show up at the right time for the right game.

db

If you're disappointed wave your hands in the air like you just don't care.  The pain will subside.

I guess I got caught up in the euphoria of having 2 straight games where our boys dropped 130+ points.  But this loss helped me find my way back to the reality of who this team is.  So we scored 130 at Utah but gave up 137 and we beat the snot out of a helpless ragdoll in Portland which was probably not a good example of bullying.

Jayson Tatum came out like a house on fire and then the Lakers made an adjustment.  Tatum still finish with 34 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.  The Lakers decided to load up on him up top and brought a help defender every time he touched the ball.  Tatum appeared to be oblivious to what was happening through multiple possessions and once he finally recognized what was happening, he tried to pass out of the double teams and they were not crisp passes.  

Not only that.  Our guys could not make shots off of those opportunities.

I want to make a case again for loading up the strong side when Jaylen returns.  You would not be able to effectively double if both of them are paired together and you add a 3rd guy as an outlet for the swing pass to the mix.  

The Celtics do not have enough quality shooters.

That's what I don't get dboss. Tatum has to see these things coming at him in real time. Give up the ball. Quit trying to be Bob Cousy dribbling your way out of it. (OR better yet, watch some Bob Cousy and learn how to do it right if you are going to insist on trying to get your way out of a double team!) You'll get the ball right back if you pass it off up top. And if not, the guy who takes the shot is wide open, 3 or no 3, but practically a guaranteed 2!

db

42 points scored in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.  That's half the game.  8-21 in the 2nd and 5-16 in the 3rd is 13-37, 35%.  Therein lies our demise.

Horford, Smart and Schroder were a combined 6-22.  82 total fgas, they represent 27% of all the fgas and they shot 27%.  The pairing from Hell.

Smart and Schroder shot a combined 3-13.  Nesmith and Pritchard shot a combined 6-14 in a fraction of the minutes.  Smart and Schroder had a lot more assists but buckets are what it's all about.

They had more fast break points than us and a lot more points in the paint than us.  Completely unacceptable.  Nobody stopped the ball, mostly LeBron and Westbrook, on transition defense.  The #1 rule of transition defense is you stop the ball.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401360189


Bob


.

they made Westbrook look like he was five years ago, although I hated his game then too. NO DEFENSE at all. wide open dunks, layups, a terrible game all around.

Btw, I was at Ozumas last night watching the game and I forgot my phone at home so that's why I didn't check in on the Game On! thread.


Bob


.

Gentlemen,

I saw some good things that I have not seen in a long time from the Celtics. Driving into the paint and nice passing for easy baskets. So I am optimistic that Tatum and the team is buying into the coaches basketball philosophy. The problem now is we have half a team. Meaning we do not have the offensive horses to break defenses. This will be a flushing out year where we move unproductive players out and bring in players that know their responsibilities and are good at it. We need scorers and a few defensive players as well.

The needle is moving in the right direction!

112288