LOS ANGELES — For most of the season, the Lakers have dominated the league’s worst teams and struggled against most teams around or higher than them in the standings.
This was evident by their 12-1 record against below .500 teams and 11-17 record against teams above .500 entering Thursday.
But the Lakers flipped the script, at least for one night, and they did so against one of the league’s best teams, pulling off a dominant 117-96 victory over the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena for their best win of the season.
The Lakers (24-18) controlled the game against the Celtics (31-14) early with their defensive switching, limiting Boston’s league-leading 3-point shooting for most of the competitive portions of the game.
“That was one of, if not our best games in terms of executing our defensive game plan,” Coach JJ Redick said. “Not overreacting to [Kristaps] Porziņģis making a few turnaround jumpers. Like I said pregame, you have to be willing to live with stuff. Because of the way we wanted to guard them, it also required a lot on-ball in terms of staying in front and forcing off-the-dribble jumpers.
“And it required a lot from our shifts and it required a lot from our low man to stay out of the blender. It’s a credit to my staff for sure, as we talked through things over the last 24 hours and it’s a credit to our guys for executing at a high level.”
And on the other end of the court, the Lakers played with energy and pace and got contributions from many.
Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots in 31 minutes. LeBron James had 20 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in 30 minutes after being selected for his 21st consecutive All-Star Game earlier in the day.
“We had a game plan and we executed it,” James said. “For the majority of 48 minutes, we executed it. We know it’s a great team, defending champions, great players and they’re gonna put you in situations that’s uncomfortable, but you have to be uncomfortable in order to compete with them.”
Austin Reaves added 23 points (7-of-13 shooting, 4 for 8 from 3-point range), six assists and three rebounds.
Dalton Knecht (13 points) and Gabe Vincent (12 points, four assists) combined for 25 points off the bench.
The Lakers finished with 27 assists and shot 47.2% (42 for 89) from the field, making 11 of their 15 total 3-point baskets in the first half.
“The ball was popping, we were sharing the basketball,” Davis said. “The last couple of games we’ve been over 30 assists. Close to it [on Thursday]. But our assist opportunities as well have been really high. So, we’ve just been playing the right way, playing together, knowing that that’s what has gotten us wins this season.
“When you’re sharing the basketball like that, the ball is moving, guys have confidence knowing the ball is going to get to them. It’s just about making shots at that point.”
The Lakers led by as much as 28 points during the fourth quarter. They didn’t allow the Celtics, who entered Thursday averaging 117.7 points, to score more than 25 points in any of the first three quarters.
A Jaden Springer 3-pointer right before the final buzzer gave the Celtics 28 points in the fourth.
“The coaches did a good job of getting us prepped for these guys,” Davis said of the Lakers’ defensive performance. “They have a lot of isolation guys, guys that can score the basketball and as pros, and what we’ve been talking about the past couple days, we came in and executed it.”
Porziņģis had 22 points and seven rebounds to pace the Celtics (31-14), who were coming off an overtime win against the Clippers the previous night.
Jaylen Brown had 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists while All-Star forward Jayson Tatum finished with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The Celtics, who average a league-high 49.1 3-point attempts per game, shot 14 for 41 from behind the arc.
The Lakers, who average the third-fewest 3-pointers, finished 15 for 35 from long range.
Before the Lakers’ loss to the Clippers on Sunday, Redick spoke about raising the team’s standards and expectations of one another every night.
There’s hope that Thursday’s win can not only raise the standard but also add internal belief to what this team can accomplish.
“Those guys, they know who Boston is,” Redick said. “They’re the world champions. They can go on a flurry and beat you in a number of ways. It’s terrifying. It’s terrifying as a coach to try to figure that out. Our guys understand that. They understand the respect you have to have for that type of opponent.
“And as much as this game could be about reinforcing and establishing those standards that we tried to as a group for 42 games, hopefully, there’s some reinforcement, maybe some establishment, but some belief that gets reinforced here about what we can be and how good we can be.”