The Los Angeles Lakers began a five-game road trip on Friday night, looking for revenge against the rival Boston Celtics after losing to them in overtime a few weeks ago.
It was another overtime game this time around with the Lakers getting hosed on a call at the end of regulation, a scene all too familiar for L.A. As a result, the Lakers suffered a 125-121 defeat.
The Lakers stuck with the same starting lineup, which meant that Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura and Lonnie Walker IV all came off the bench. L.A.’s starting unit still got off to a quick start though as Patrick Beverley hit a 3-pointer and then LeBron James had a pair of layups.
Boston responded with five straight points to tie it at nine before James drilled a 3 going into the first timeout.
Russell Westbrook got off to a rough 0-for-5 start in his first shift and the Lakers as a whole struggled from deep. L.A. went into the second quarter with a slim 28-27 deficit although Boston quickly extended its lead to nine.
The Lakers responded with a 10-0 run to regain the lead with James finding Walker on a cut and then Hachimura returning the favor to James for a dunk. With the Celtics really struggling, Jaylen Brown had a big three-point play to get them back settled in.
Davis and Brown each picked up three fouls in the first half, perhaps changing up rotations for the second half. The Lakers closed the first half strong though and went into the locker room leading 54-48.
Despite his foul trouble, Davis actually started the second half for the Lakers. The Celtics got off to a hot start though with six straight points to tie the game before Troy Brown Jr. answered with a layup.
That sparked a Lakers run as James hit a pair of 3s and Beverley hit one. LeBron then finished a layup in transition to give L.A. a double-digit lead for the first time. Brown also picked up his fourth foul as the Lakers continued to take back the momentum.
Jayson Tatum got off to a slow start but finally got going midway through the third quarter with back-to-back 3s. He had 11 quick points overall to get Boston back within three. Westbrook then had a couple of more costly turnovers extending the Celtics run to 8-0 and allowing them to regain the lead.
To Westbrook’s credit though, he got a pair of acrobatic layups to fall to keep L.A. in it and then Davis found Hachimura for a dunk to beat the buzzer and tie it at 81 through three.
Brown pushed off on Schroder to begin the fourth quarter, heading to the bench with his fifth foul. Beverley and James then went back to work from the 3-point while Dennis Schroder had a pair of buckets to put L.A. ahead by seven.
The Lakers couldn’t gain any separation though as they then went into a slump. After Davis was called for a loose ball could when it looked like he was the one that was fouled, Malcolm Brogdon hit a 3 to give the Celtics the lead back. That lead was short-lived, however, with LeBron drilling his sixth 3 out of a timeout.
It was a back-and-forth game going into the final two minutes, setting up for an exciting finish.
With the Lakers trailing by one in the final minute, Beverley hit another massive triple, his fourth of the game. Brogdon was then fouled and made a pair to tie it at 102 with 41.7 to play. Again, it was Beverley that came up huge with a putback dunk, of all things, to give L.A. another lead. Brown then missed a wide-open 3, but Beverley only made one of two free throws.
That set up another chance for the Lakers and Brown got an offensive rebound and completed a three-point play to tie it with four seconds left. James drove to the basket on the final and was hit hard on the arm by Tatum, but no foul was called and he missed the layup so the game went to overtime.
Brown started the overtime period hot by going to the basket, looking for more foul calls which he got. He then hit a 3 to put his team up by six, forcing a Lakers timeout.
After not playing the whole fourth quarter, Westbrook came back in and immediately made an impact with a putback. He then drew a flagrant 1 foul on Brogdon to get the Lakers within three. Brown came up with another big bucket, however, and then made a pair of free throws after a James layup.
The Lakers played hard until the end but ultimately could not come up with enough stops to make a comeback.
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