Tag: Anthony Davis

The Lakers spoiled what could have been an epic rivalry game with the Celtics

The Celtics smashed the Lakers on Monday night, but due to extenuating circumstances it doesn’t feel like a rivalry … yet.

The Boston Celtics crushed the Los Angeles Lakers last night. Really smacked them. They won 139-107 and it honestly didn’t even feel that close.

Five Celtics finished in double digits, and the whole team shot the lights out, going 55 percent from the field and 47 percent from deep. Anthony Davis — playing on a minutes restriction after coming back from a tailbone injury — got in foul trouble early and wasn’t much of a factor, finishing with 9 points on 3-for-7 shooting. LeBron James finished with just 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting. It was ugly from the Lakers, and the Celtics were red hot, and the game was a blowout.

For what was seemingly such a statement game — a young Celtics group smacking the LeBron-led Lakers, Kemba Walker finally beating James after 28 consecutive losses to his teams — I have to say it didn’t feel like much of an event.

Perhaps that was due to the Lakers, and notably their two biggest stars, no-showing. They looked tired and disinterested, and so despite the Celtics’ excellent play, the game never rose to anything beyond routine. It didn’t feel like Lakers vs. Celtics. It felt like a midseason NBA game.

This is the big issue with the Lakers, and one we’ve written about before. When LeBron and AD show up and play well, they look just about unstoppable. When either is hurt, or has an off night, or both have an off night (which happened on Monday), they can look like a lottery team.

The Lakers looked like a lottery team on Monday night, so the game didn’t feel special. We had a big Jaylen Brown dunk on LeBron and, other than that? Not much.

Hopefully, we’ll get there. These two teams are forever linked due to Kobe and Garnett and Pierce and [gestures broadly to the entire 1980s] but it’s just not there yet with these two groups. James and Davis are focused on their own team right now, and figuring out who among the roster can help them when it comes to playoff time. The Lakers are playing lots of guys and seeing who can hang, and unfortunately, not a ton of them are passing this test at the moment. Kyle Kuzma is so in his own head I want to give him a hug.

The Celtics, on the other hand, are finding their stride. They played just eight guys last night for most of the game, a shortened, playoff-style lineup. They wanted to see how they could do against the best and went full bore.

The Lakers treated it like a sparring session, so it felt like a sparring session. It’s a bummer for casual fans, who wanted to see a heavyweight fight, another chapter of a classic rivalry. But there’s just not enough history between these players yet, and the Lakers and Celtics are at such different parts of their seasons, it didn’t come together. Hopefully, next time, it will.

[jwplayer eHD0iwmY-q2aasYxh]

Kemba Walker gets first win over LeBron James as Celtics smash Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers got run off the floor on Monday night against a hungry Boston Celtics squad.

With plenty of help from his teammates, Boston’s Kemba Walker scored his first-ever career victory over LeBron James in his All-Star career, snapping a 28-game losing streak against the King and his teams. The Celtics defeated the Lakers, 139-107, on Monday night behind 27 points from Jayson Tatum and 20 points from Walker. Jaylen Brown, who also had an incredible dunk over LeBron James, finished with 20 points as well.

The Lakers were run off the court on Monday night, suffering their worst loss of the season, trailing by as many as 34 points in the fourth quarter before waving the white flag early in the final period by removing LeBron and Anthony Davis from the game. LeBron James had 15 points, 13 assists, and seven rebounds on the night while Anthony Davis had nine points and four rebounds in his first game since a five-game absence.

The Celtics were able to score on the Lakers in a way that few have been able to so far this season. Their slicing penetration and ball movement proved problematic for the normally solid Lakers defense. Boston shot over 50% from the field and over 40% from the 3-point line in Monday’s win.

As for the Lakers, they will now head to New York City where they have two games coming against the Knicks and Nets before they head to Philadelphia on Saturday to wrap up their five-game road trip.

[lawrence-related id=25314,25299]

Jaylen Brown dunks over LeBron, gets technical for taunting after

The Boston Celtics wing got a technical for taunting after a huge dunk over LeBron James in Monday night’s game vs. the Los Angeles Lakers.

When you commit to being someone who protects the rim in the middle of an NBA defense, you generally have to come to terms with being dunked on. And for LeBron James, that reality didn’t show itself until the second half of Monday night’s game against the Boston Celtics.

As LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers squad were scrapping to stay in the game on Monday against the Celtics, Jaylen Brown had an emphatic dunk as if to show that the Celtics youngster is not the same player who lost to LeBron James in the Eastern Conference Finals a couple of years ago. After the dunk, Brown even picked up a technical foul for taunting.

James and the Lakers are being run out of the gym by the Lakers as it stands, trailing by 27 points late in the third quarter at the time of publishing. Monday is the first game that they’ve had Anthony Davis in the lineup since Jan. 7 but the Celtics have completely dominated them despite the fact the Lakers added one of their MVPs for this season.

[lawrence-related id=25308,25299]

 

Report: Anthony Davis on minutes restriction, Rondo game-time decision

The Los Angeles Lakers leading scorer will be on a 28-minute restriction against the Boston Celtics on Monday night.

The Los Angeles Lakers will have their star leading scorer back on Monday night against the Boston Celtics, but they won’t have him for the regular amount of minutes they are used to seeing him for when he plays, according to reports from pre-game in Boston.

According to Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald, Anthony Davis will be on a restriction of 28 minutes on Monday night when the Los Angeles Lakers face the Celtics in about 90 minutes. While Davis will play but be restricted, Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group reported that Rajon Rondo will be a game-time decision after missing the last three games.

The Lakers will be on the second game of a five-game trip that will include two games against the New York teams and a final game at Philadelphia.

Rondo has been out since the Lakers victory on Jan. 11 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In that game, Rondo had his best game of the season with 21 points, eight assists, and 12 rebounds.

[lawrence-related id=25284,25277]

 

Anthony Davis to return to lineup against Celtics on Monday night

Anthony Davis is returning to the Lakers’ lineup right in time for Los Angeles to attempt to score a victory over the Celtics.

After a five-game absence, Anthony Davis has been cleared to return to the lineup for the Los Angeles Lakers in time for their matchup with the Celtics on Monday night at Boston’s TD Garden.

For the Celtics, the news isn’t the best, as Los Angeles is obviously a more talented bunch with Davis in the lineup. In his absence, the Lakers managed to go 4-1 behind some pretty incredible production from third-year man Kyle Kuzma.

Starting for Davis, Kuzma has averaged 20 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, including a 36-point effort against the Oklahoma City Thunder that helped the team score a 125-110 victory despite LeBron James also missing the contest.

Fortunately for Boston, the team is expecting Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown to each be back in the lineup, as well. Walker missed the team’s previous contest against the Suns with some left knee soreness, while Brown has missed each of the last two contests with a right thumb sprain.

The action will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo (finger) still questionable at Celtics

Los Angeles Lakers reserve guard Rajon Rondo has missed the last three games with a fractured right ring finger.

The Los Angeles Lakers got some good news about their star forward Anthony Davis but the status of their reserve guard Rajon Rondo remains in doubt ahead of his return to his old Boston stomping grounds in tonight’s TNT-televised affair.

Rondo has missed the last three games with a fractured ring finger, suffered in the Lakers win on Jan. 11 at Oklahoma City, in which Rondo had his best game of the season with 21 points, eight assists and 12 rebounds in a win without either LeBron James or Anthony Davis. He remains questionable for Monday night, according to the team’s reporter, Mike Trudell.

The Lakers have been rolling along even without Rondo, who has concurrently missed the last three games along with Anthony Davis. With Davis back in the lineup, the Lakers will get even better on both ends.

They will need the help from Davis as they face probably the best team they will face on this entire trip tonight in the Celtics. The Celtics are sixth in the NBA in offensive efficiency while they are No. 5 in defensive efficiency.

[lawrence-related id=25251,25241]

Anthony Davis (bruised butt) to make his return Monday at Celtics

The Los Angeles Lakers are getting back their leading-scorer and star big man Anthony Davis on Monday night.

The Los Angeles Lakers are part of the NBA’s massive slate of games on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and they are getting quite the gift as they head into a familiar place to face the franchise’s No. 1 rival, the Boston Celtics.

Anthony Davis, who missed the last five games with a bruise on his butt following a nasty fall against the New York Knicks on Jan. 7, is available to play in tonight’s game against the Celtics, according to the team. The Lakers have gone 4-1 without Davis, who is their leading scorer this season averaging over 27 points per game.

Davis was considered questionable over the past couple of weeks since the fall on Jan. 7 but has been in too much pain to play. Towards the end of last week, Davis started ramping up his activity level after spending most of the first week trying to recover.

Luckily for the Lakers, the fall that looked bad a few weeks ago only cost their star player less than two weeks of action.

[lawrence-related id=25226,25194]