Lakers welcome back fans to Staples center, spoiled by historic rival Celtics.
For the first time in 401 days, the Lakers played in front of 1,915 fans at Staples Center against the historic rival Boston Celtics. The Celtics spoiled the fun ruining the reunion beating the short-handed Lakers 121–113, moving their record to 34–23. Tonight’s loss to the Celtics keeps the Lakers in 5th place in the Western Conference as they battle to stay afloat with their stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis out with injuries. Head coach Frank Vogel spoke on the atmosphere of having the fans back in the stadium, saying:
“I know it was not a full capacity at where we want to be but it was great to have our fans back watching us and cheering us on, giving us energy and juice.”
It was reported before tonight’s game that Anthony Davis is cleared for full on-court activity with head coach Frank Vogel saying it’s “Good news” for this Lakers team who desperately need him back on the court. Look for Davis to make his debut on the 22nd of April as the Lakers are scheduled to face the Mavs, possibly making it the first time Davis will play since Valentine’s Day. When he returns, he will be on a minutes restriction as he will slowly try to get his body right in time for the playoffs.
Coming into the matchup Celtics all-stars Jaylen Brown averaged 24.3 points and Jayson Tatum 25.9 points a game (nearly 50 points average between the two) that Vogel spoke as being one of their main focal point on defense was stopping them. Tatum had an off-night, scoring below his average finishing with 14 points on 6 of 14 (42.8%) shooting from the field. The Celtics were able to get a big win tonight due to the all-star performance from Jaylen Brown. Brown was able to score a game-high 40 points on a near-perfect 17 for 20 (85%) shooting total from the field, adding 9 rebounds and 3 assists to his huge performance tonight. The Celtics as a team shot an impressive 56.5% from the field (48–85) and made things even tougher by going 14 for 32 (43.8%) from the three-point arc.
The Lakers big-game performer came from the always professional Marc Gasol, who recently accepted his new role of the number two center behind the newly added Andre Drummond. Even after dislocating his finger and snapping it back into place midway in the 3rd quarter, Gasol was able to finish with a season-high 18 points on 4 of 6 (66.6%) shooting from the perimeter and 7 for 10 (70%) from the field. With his 18 points, Gasol was also able to add 4 rebounds and 3 assists in his 20 minutes of action.
In tonight’s loss, the Lakers scored one of their highest totals from the bench ending the night with 69 points with 4 of the 6 Lakers scoring in double figures coming from the bench.
The Lakers highest leading scorer on the night came from the 20-year-old sophomore Talen Horton-Tucker. Horton-Tucker completely stuffed the stat sheet getting 19 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals on 7 of 15 (46.6%) shooting from the field.
The newly buyout market acquisition Ben McLemore has had a solid, welcoming to the Lakers, bringing double-digit performances from the bench showing the value he can bring to this squad. In 23 minutes, McLemore finished the night with 17 points on 7 of 12 (58.3%) shooting from the field and a 2 for 6 (33.3%) outing from deep.
After finishing with 6 points combined in the past two games, Montrezl Harrell was able to have a back-on-track bounce-back performance for the Lakers bench. In 20 minutes of action, Harrell finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds on 5 of 11 (45.4%) shooting from the field.
In the next four days, the Lakers will be facing a tough task as they are set to face the Utah Jazz twice in that span. The Utah Jazz are currently sitting with the best record in the NBA at 41–14, looking to keep their one seed locked as the playoffs are just around the corner. Look for the Jazz to take advantage of a short-handed Lakers team and come into Staples Center with a lot of energy.