Anytime the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Boston Celtics, it is a meeting that is circled on the calendar. But this upcoming meeting in primetime on Saturday night that will see LeBron James and Luka Doncic lead L.A. into Boston against Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown is even bigger than usual.
The Lakers come in having won eight straight and 18 of their last 21 games while the Celtics have been victorious in 13 of their last 16 contests. LeBron has been at another level lately while Tatum has been an MVP candidate for much of the season as well. And this meeting is one the Celtics star is looking forward to.
Ahead of Saturday’s game, Tatum praised James for his unbelievable play this season while calling it a joy to be able to continue to compete against him, via Noa Dalzell of Celtics Blog:
“As much as we probably talk about LeBron, we probably don’t talk about him enough. Being 40, in his 22nd season, playing at an All-NBA level is an incredible testament to the work ethic that he’s put in. His game, his body, to stay in the best shape to be able to compete and perform at the highest level for over two decades now. Something that we should all strive to do, even if it might be unlikely. But it’s a joy to be able to compete against him in these matchups for however long we get to do it for.”
As Tatum said, what James is doing in his 22nd NBA season is just mind-boggling. To maintain this level of excellence at this stage of his career is something no one has ever witnessed and LeBron deserves so much praise and credit for still being one of the best players in the league at 40 years old.
Tatum and James have faced off in some big games before, even dating back to the former’s rookie season when the Celtics fell to the latter and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals. But now, LeBron has this Lakers team clicking on all cylinders and a road win over arguably the favorites to win the NBA Championship would send a message to the rest of the league that this Lakers team truly is a championship contender.
LeBron James stresses importance of every player on the Lakers roster
Defeating the Celtics will take more than just LeBron James and Luka Doncic playing well, it will require the Lakers’ role players to deliver also. Thankfully, they have been doing just that as of late and LeBron made it clear that every player on the Lakers roster is important, while also shouting out Gabe Vincent for his big game against the New York Knicks.
“There’s no such thing as non-key players on this team,” James said after the win over the Knicks. “Everybody is key, and everybody steps on the floor has a role and they go in and match that and I thought our bench gave us a great lift once again and Gabe [Vincent], single him out. He was spectacular his play both on the defensive end and obviously with a shooting that we needed. We were not making any outside shots.”
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