The Los Angeles Lakers fought back against the Boston Celtics Tuesday night, only to fall in a gutwrenching overtime loss. Down by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, the Lakers turned the ship with a 44-12 run across the third and fourth quarters.
It seemed like L.A. was in the driver’s seat when it went up 13 with four minutes left. However, Boston stormed back behind a plethora of 3s and poor Lakers execution. The Celtics closed the final four minutes and overtime on a 29-12 run.
Troy Brown Jr. felt the Lakers let the game slip with how they started. Boston was up 37-24 after one quarter, creating a deep hole L.A. had to dig itself out of.
“I think it just comes down to the overall game, just in general playing every quarter. I feel like we kind of picked it up in the second half obviously when they made that run, we got on top of it,” Brown said. “But I feel like if we came out with that energy from the jump then the game could’ve been really different.”
Brown was a team-high plus-12 even though he only took three shots and had two points — tied for the lowest of any player in the game. He played the entire fourth quarter, a key part of the run the Lakers went on.
“I feel like we have all of the offensive talent in the world, especially with LeBron and AD and Russ. They create, they’re making shots, I feel like the biggest thing was just kind of picking up where they lack and making defensive plays to be able to take some pressure off them,” he said. “So offensively they were able to get it done and I feel like my job was just to be out there where I needed to be, plug gaps, help everybody get rebounds, the hustle plays. So that was a big thing tonight for me.”
For the Lakers, it’s the second time in three games their comeback has fallen just short.
In their loss against the Philadelphia 76ers, missed free throws hindered L.A.’s ability to win the game. Anthony Davis missed key free throws in regulation against Philadelphia. And in overtime, the Lakers didn’t score until the game was already out of reach.
Brown is optimistic about the result against Boston, however.
“As a player, obviously it’s disappointing to lose. Nobody ever wants to lose. But at the same time, Boston is one of the best teams in the East, so for us, we had that game. You go back, you watch film and the biggest thing for us is just seeing where we made mistakes,” he said. “So instead of moping on it or harping on it or nitpicking who could’ve done what or what we could’ve done better, at the end of the day it’s on us. We got to watch film and get it together and figure out what points of the game were pivotal for us to turn around and figure that out. So it’s a little bit of both, it’s a double-edged sword.”
As the schedule heats up in December, more of these results have to go the Lakers’ way if they hope to make a playoff push.
Darvin Ham regrets not managing timeouts better in loss to Celtics
The Lakers noticeably ran out of steam to end the game against Boston. It might have hindered their chances to steal a victory and head coach Darvin Ham regrets how he handled the situation.
“Just trying to manage the timeouts. I could’ve done a better job in certain instances and using my timeouts quicker, but you know, that falls on me. We got to get better in that regard, but I’m proud of my guys. I’m disappointed we lost. I’m proud of my guys.”
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