Lakers save Celtics from falling further in standings

The fans that were in attendance at Staples Center on Thursday were treated to a show, but unfortunately not a Lakers win. In their second meeting of the season with the Boston Celtics, the Lakers were mercilessly blown out 121-113. The Lakers and Celtics will end their season series tied for the fourth consecutive season.

The injury report didn’t do the Lakers any favors on Thursday, as both Markieff Morris and Andre Drummond were ruled out of the game. Morris and Drummond have started at the 4 and 5, respectively, in the absence of James and Davis. However, the Lakers’ defense didn’t do them any favors, either.

Even without James and Davis, the Lakers managed to be an elite defense team, but that wasn’t the case on Thursday night. Don’t get me wrong: the Celtics hit some, tough, tough shots, but the Lakers weren’t their sharpest on the defensive end.

Offensively, they were about as good as they possibly could have been with the players they had available. Talen Horton-Tucker and Marc Gasol combined for 36 points and the Lakers still lost. On most nights, that’s going to be enough to get them a win, and it nearly was.

After trailing by as much as 27 points in the fourth quarter, the Lakers trimmed the Celtics’ lead to five points with a 24-2 run. Brad Stevens was so scared he was going to blow another lead that he subbed Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart back in.

For context, he Lakers had a lineup of Horton-Tucker, Ben McLemore, Alfonzo MckInnie, Kostas Antetokounmpo and Devontae Cacok at the time. That’s objectively hilarious.

The Lakers will try and carry that energy into their next game against the Utah Jazz, who currently hold the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. We’ll see you Saturday.

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