Welcome in to the full recap of the Lakers' matchup against their old nemesis in the Boston Celtics. The Lakers couldn't buy a three-point bucket until late in the game as they fall to the Celtics 107-113 engineered by Isaiah Thomas' 38 point performance.
Celtics gotta 1-up the Lakers all the time. They lead by one more in terms of most NBA titles and they lead by one more after this game in terms of all-time regular season victories over the Lakers. Disdain for the Celtics runs deep. But, I gotta question the logic here. The Lakers have gone ice cold in 3-pointers since the 2nd quarter, but they heat up in the 4th quarter when the game is out of reach. I'll go more in depth in that category, but that was really frustrating to watch.
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Larry Nance, Jr., 18 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals. Talk about a breakout game for Jr. He was all energy tonight on both ends of the floor. When Luke Walton inserted the 3-guard lineup with Ingram and Nance at the Power Forward and Center spot, respectively, that's when Nance started to eat. He was the main driver for the Lakers' 2nd chance opportunities tonight, cleaning up the boards, muscling his way to the paint for easy points. He's starting to get back the feel of the rotation since coming off of injury.
Brandon Ingram, 14 points, 6 rebounds. We need to see more of this Brandon Ingram this month. We saw the progress of his jump shot on full display tonight. That was his game when the Lakers drafted him out of Duke. Tonight I saw a Brandon Ingram who not only brought back the assertiveness to get to the basket from January, but I saw him look pretty confident with his offensive game and shooting stroke. We'd like to see him build off of this game.
D'Angelo Russell, 20 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists. That "Kobe-esque" shooting though, 8-20 from the field. I'd like to see D'Lo post up more rather than settle for three's like he did tonight along with other Laker players. Isaiah Thomas posed a big time mismatch for D'Lo and when he settled to post up and score, it worked. That should be D'Lo's main strength, attacking the basket and taking full advantage of mismatch opportunities given his size to play point. Also, he took better care of the ball tonight after committing 7 turnovers last night at Washington. Those turnovers were courtesy of good defense by Marcus Smart.
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3-point shooting. My goodness, was the 3-point shooting horrendous tonight. Nick Young, D'Lo, and Sweet Lou hit a couple of threes late to curve the final shooting percentage, which was around 37% from beyond the arc (courtesy of Yahoo Sports). However, that doesn't change the fact that this was a big time dent in the Lakers' game tonight. Too many times tonight, players were settling for three's when the Lakers put themselves in 2nd chance opportunities. Two possessions in particular. They had the ball three times in the 2nd quarter and they couldn't connect on a 3-point shot. Late in the 4th, when the Lakers made a push, Larry Nance hustled through every rebound and the Lakers missed on all four of their 3-point attempts in the 2nd chance opportunities. I was yelling at the T.V. "attack the basket!" They were down 7. There was a lot of time left for the Lakers to come back and make stops if they cut the deficit to five. But they wasted it because they kept jacking up threes! When they started to hit the 3-pointers in the final seconds in the 4th, I was like "wow." I don't understand the logic of going ice cold behind the 3-point line for a majority of the game and heating up at the same spot when the game's out of reach.
Jordan Clarkson, 2 points, 1-7 shooting. It was a tough game for Clarkson overall. He had a solid game last night in Washington, putting up 20 points, but aside from the nice reverse layup in the first half, JC got blanked out by the Celtics. Clarkson will have those games, but he's not wildly inconsistent.
MVP
Larry Nance Jr., 18 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 stealsLarry Nance is 100% hustle and energy. That was on full display tonight in a losing effort vs. the Celtics. It's too bad most of his effort tonight were in vain because of the high amount of 3-point bricks.
Conclusion
And here we go again. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but the Lakers are gonna have to learn to win on the road at some point in the season. The woeful starts in the first quarter are getting ridiculous to see. Also, it's a hot-cold game in terms of the Lakers' shooting in these games. Tonight was an example that they were not hitting their 3's and they should've done more to attack the basket and draw contact, which is what brought them back late in the game. The Lakers are currently 0-2 in this 5-game road trip. It will be a huge disappointment if they don't snatch at least one game. They have their work cut out. Monday's Lakers-Knicks game was supposed to air on TNT, but I think they flexed out of that game. So, expect a Quick Fact Check on that one instead along with the rest of the games that are shown exclusive to the local T.V. market. I'll see you guys later for the next nationally televised game.
