I’ll be honest with y’all: Hopes weren’t high for this one. And I was right, for what little that’s worth. The Celtics lost to the Lakers 96-95 in a wire-to-wire game where they played with a toughness that often matched their title-holding competition, but mistakes came at the most costly times. Moreover, Marcus Smart suffering a non-contact injury while trying to defend in the post puts so much up in the air for this squad.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown had stellar nights with 30-9-3-2-0 and 28-1-3-1-1, respectively. Daniel Theis (14-7-1-1-1) and Robert Williams (10-7-2-2-2 in under 19 minutes) also made the most of their stints. But a rare putrid performance by Kemba Walker (4 points on 1-12 shooting), a quiet bench and major Q4 turnovers sunk the team.
Let’s go through the timeline:
https://twitter.com/notoriousIT/status/1355692629724450817?s=20
Perfect opening sequence for the Celtics. pic.twitter.com/K3Ip9h4ZR8
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 31, 2021
Brad not going to double-bigs against even this Lakers lineup is a good sign, to me
— Ryan Bernardoni (@dangercart) January 31, 2021
The Lakers aren't being shy with their game plan: throw it into the post to AD over and over and over and over again. And, given his size advantage, hard to blame them for doing so. Boston, which is, as usual, playing small, has held up pretty well, but has been hurt by ORebs.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 31, 2021
The teams seemed more well-matched than I expected early on.
JT for 👌
RT to vote for @jaytatum0 #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/KhL3UJuZMW
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 31, 2021
Interesting variation on the double-big lineup. Looked OK; not bad not great.
Celtics going 2 bigs with Theis and Robert Williams
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) January 31, 2021
Marcus making it look easy.#Celtics Rewind presented by @tmobile pic.twitter.com/oLn8XzdHX3
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 31, 2021
It's interesting that the Celtics seemed to actively avoid playing Tristan Thompson against Anthony Davis. Went with Robert Williams instead, who held his own out there. Thompson now checks in with Davis headed to the bench late in the first.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 31, 2021
ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, I think Q1 went OK, though the bigs’ difficulties on defense was frustrating, as was:
I know the Celtics offense is geared towards ball-movement and the ball finding the right guy, but they should probably open games with more of an emphasis on finding Jaylen Brown shots. He's just better when he sees a couple fall early
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) January 31, 2021
Offense stagnating, Jaylen forcing it, maybe call a timeout to run something to get him a better look….
— Bradsketbawl (@bradsketbawl) January 31, 2021
i've lost the ability to tell if people legitimately think brad stevens is a bad basketball coach/not the right celtics coach or if it's just amped-up in-game fan frustration
— we came back haunted 🕸️🍉☘️ (@senddeadfIowers) January 31, 2021
The Lakers bumped their lead up from “small” to “kinda comfortable” despite certain questionable decisions.
https://twitter.com/JackBeTweeting/status/1355701055107919874?s=20
Probably because of this:
just sad bad defense
— david (@whaamncheese) January 31, 2021
Kemba needs to be way better than this on offense.
Thompson needs to be way better than this on defense.
— Ryan Bernardoni (@dangercart) January 31, 2021
In a succession of quick plays, the Jays made up a fair bit of the lost ground:
Cooooook Jaylen
— Bradsketbawl (@bradsketbawl) January 31, 2021
getting to the paint
RT to vote for @FCHWPO #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/fILDnaDOr0
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 31, 2021
https://twitter.com/notoriousIT/status/1355703153820393475?s=20
Good time-out for the #Celtics, bounce back with a 9-2 run following 3-ball by Jayson Tatum that brings Boston within 43-40 in the second quarter. Tatum has 14 pts in 14 minutes so far.
— A. Sherrod Blakely (@ASherrodblakely) January 31, 2021
Cs ended the half about where they ended Q1: not too far down but really needing to amp up the defense.
We got a good one at the Garden.
Halftime Live NOW on @NBCSBoston pic.twitter.com/zukSIcbxur
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 31, 2021
Jaylen Brown stepped hard on the gas pedal to start Q3.
Jaylen Brown comes out and scores Boston's first 7 points of the quarter
— John Karalis 🇬🇷🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) January 31, 2021
Celtics are having Raptors flashbacks exploiting Gasol every time down.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) January 31, 2021
Gasol, of course, wasn’t the problem. LeBron wasn’t even really the problem. This guy was:
The Celtics have NO answer for AD. I mean, few teams do but still…
— Dart_Adams (@Dart_Adams) January 31, 2021
Boston and L.A. traded blows and leads back and forth. Oddly enough, one of the most spectacular counterpunches came from the guy who’s been Celtics Nation’s A-number-one whipping boy (with reasons) all season:
ok then! https://t.co/YFPWdw1fBa
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) January 31, 2021
It started to turn at the end of Q3, when Boston caught the Lakers slipping multiple times, most notably this glorious Tatum to Timelord sequence:
WHAAT?!?! pic.twitter.com/XuOis9TIRW
— KWAPT (@KWAPT) January 31, 2021
Robert Williams: 5 for 5, 10 points, 7 rebs, 2 blocks, 2 steals, 2 assists in 15 minutes.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) January 31, 2021
After 3 here in Boston: Celtics 78, Lakers 71. Anthony Davis is up to 25 and 12 for LA, but Boston took control in the third behind Jayson Tatum (24) and Jaylen Brown (22 points, seven rebounds). Since the first quarter, Celtics have a 7-4 edge in second chance points, too.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) January 31, 2021
The final 12 minutes started off OK for the Cs, as the Lakers moved to recover their lead and then.
Marcus Smart is down and he's in a lot of pain.
This is not a good sign at all. He was screaming and it appears to be his left knee
— Josue Pavón (@Joe_Sway) January 31, 2021
No, basketball gods, please no
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 31, 2021
Pavon amended it to say it appeared to be his calf, and Shams Charania clarified further:
Celtics' Marcus Smart has a left calf strain, team says.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 31, 2021
asking Tatum to anchor a lineup of Teague, Nesmith, Ojeleye, and Thompson in the 4th against the Lakers is…..a lot
— Zak 🗣🍼💜💪 (@ZakKondratenko) January 31, 2021
I didn’t feel optimistic about the game either, though it was tied about halfway through the frame. The Celtics fanbase wasn’t ready to give up:
https://twitter.com/Riffs_Man/status/1355721710645948420?s=20
fuck YOU https://t.co/ViaqlOUWNB
— aims (@yungaims) January 31, 2021
(They deleted the tweet; it was a clip widely interpreted as gloating over Smart’s injury. Between this and the shitty joke about the Garden’s lowered banners that were a tribute to Tommy Heinsohn, it’s not been a banner year for Lakers partisans with prominent social media accounts!)
Frequent Celtics turnovers put momentum back in the Lakers’ hands, even though the margin was still small (93-87 at about the three-minute mark)…until it was worse.
5-point swing against the Celtics with Jaylen missing both free throws followed by a Schroeder 3-point play.
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) January 31, 2021
Two stellar minutes on offense and especially defense got the Celtics set up for a Hail Mary bucket, but Kemba missed it, Theis couldn’t clean it up and that was that.
The clutch basket that put them within 1.#Celtics Rewind presented by @tmobile pic.twitter.com/xwFrcfA5yg
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 31, 2021
If you enjoy torturing yourself: here's another look at the final seconds. #Celtics Rewind presented by @tmobile pic.twitter.com/vRYnjO0e09
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) January 31, 2021
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
