BOSTON — In Thursday night’s game against the Boston Celtics, the Lakers found themselves in a position they hadn’t been through the season’s first 49 games: playing without both of their stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
With their top players sidelined, the message from Coach Darvin Ham was simple:
“Play together, play hard and have some fun,” he said pregame. “It’s basketball at the end of the day. We have guys in the locker room that are highly competitive, highly skilled still without our two big dogs. Don’t try to put yourself on an island. Go out and try and do it as a unit.”
The message was carried out on the court, leading to the Lakers (25-25) beating the Celtics, 114-105, at TD Garden to get back to. 500 on the season and through four games on the six-game road trip.
Even with Austin Reaves scoring a season-high 32 points (including a career-high seven 3-pointers) and D’Angelo Russell (16 points, 14 assists, eight rebounds) having a well-rounded performance, it was the Lakers’ by-committe approach that resulted in them pulling off the upset victory over the league-leading Celtics (37-12).
In the first quarter, it was Jaxson Hayes (season highs of 16 points and 10 rebounds – six offensive rebounds) and Jarred Vanderbilt (10 points, seven rebounds, three steals – in 16 minutes) leading the way by creating extra scoring opportunities with deflections, steals and crashing the offensive glass.
The Lakers had 10 offensive rebounds and nine takeaways in the first quarter, resulting in a 28-25 lead and them taking 12 more field goal attempts in the opening period. Vanderbilt left the game in the second quarter because of right foot soreness.
The Lakers got hot from behind the arc, making eight second-quarter 3-pointers to open a 60-46 lead by halftime.
They finished the game with 19 3-pointers – the third most they’ve made in a game this season.
And no 3-pointer was bigger than Russell’s with just over three…
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