Boston Celtics Cruise To Victory Against Los Angeles Lakers In 111-89 Road Win

In the second game of a four-game road trip out west, the Boston Celtics made easy work of their long-time rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. Boston’s much-improved defense thoroughly shut down the Lakers’ high-powered offense on Sunday night.

Pritchard and Brown Bring Their A-Game In Win

It was a familiar sight for the Celtics in this game, as both Payton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown ran Boston’s offense to perfection in tonight’s win. The players combined for half of the Celtics’ 111 total points, with Brown scoring 32 and Pritchard scoring 30 points. It’s been a kind month for Pritchard since the former Sixth Man of the Year shifted back to coming off the bench. He is averaging 23 points on a highly efficient 52% shooting from the field and 43% from three.

Speaking of efficiency, the Celtics’ offense operated at a high efficiency all game, as they shot 48% from the floor and 38% from the three-point line. That outside shooting served as a major deciding factor in this game for both teams, with the Celtics knocking down 14 threes, while the Lakers made just 9 triples. Boston also played their usual brand of team play in this game, as the team dished out 29 assists on 40 of its made field goals in the game.

While Boston’s offense was slicing up the Lakers’ poor defense, it was the Celtics defense that impressed the most, especially from Jaylen Brown. The five-time All-Star would find himself matched up against LeBron James on defense and would deliver a great outing on that end of the floor. Brown would hold James to 20 points on 9-of-21 shooting, while also picking his pocket for a couple of steals.

Lakers Revamped Offense Goes Quiet

After acquiring Shooting Guard Luke Kennard at the trade deadline this season, the Lakers were expected to make a more substantial leap in terms of shooting. Fast forward to this latest game, and it seems Los Angeles is just the same old car with a slightly new bit of paint coated on top of it. That seems to become even more evident as the Lakers continue to fail to generate any sort of offense outside of their star players in another head-scratching loss.

The Lakers had only three players score in double digits, with those players being their three best players in Luka Doncic, James, and Austin Reaves. Los Angeles recently tried a new approach on offense by inserting Marcus Smart into the starting lineup at the small forward spot in their last game against the Los Angeles Clippers. That experiment has quickly turned into a disastrous one tonight.

Smart had 0 points while shooting a dreadful 0-of-7 from the floor in 22 minutes of play. However, it wasn’t just Smart who looked lost on offense for the Lakers, as starting Center Deandre Ayton continued to be a massive disappointment for Los Angeles this season. The former top overall pick finished with 4 points and 7 rebounds in another poor performance.

Lakers Take a Tumble Down the Standings

Although losing to one of your most bitter rivals at home undoubtedly stings, the Lakers’ loss against the Celtics came attached with more pain than it usually does. After dropping this game, the Lakers now sit in the 6th position in the Western Conference as both the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves jumped them in the standings. Los Angeles now sits just two games ahead of the Phoenix Suns for a Play-In spot.

For the Celtics, while this win doesn’t do much to help them gain on the Detroit Pistons for the top spot in the East, it does allow them to stay within striking distance as they sit only 5 and a half games behind them at the moment. This win also serves as a buffer for Boston over the New York Knicks, as they now hold a 2.5-game lead over them for the 2nd spot.