LOS ANGELES – Another remarkable chapter was written in the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics matchup on Tuesday night.
The Celtics won 122-118 in overtime in a game Boston seemed to have no business dealing with — then a wild comeback by L.A. and no wins.
Boston, led by Jayson Tatum’s 44 points, beat LA 12-8 in overtime.
“That game speaks volumes about our experience and mental toughness,” said Jaylen Brown, who added five of his 25 points in overtime. “This is a tough and perfect way to close out our road trip.”
The Lakers trailed the Celtics by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, but used an 18-0 run late in the third to take control and went on to lead by 13 with 4:25 left in the fourth. In regulation.
“We gave ourselves a chance to win,” LeBron James said. “We didn’t close it out. But I liked our effort. I liked our resilience in the second half and put ourselves in a position to win against a great team.”
With 28 seconds left and up by two points, LA appeared to have a chance to clinch the victory with Anthony Davis at the line, but Davis — 11-for-13 on the night on the season — missed both. .
“I wasn’t thinking about the rest of the game,” a devastated Davis said after the loss. “Make two free throws, go up four, different ball game. The rest doesn’t matter to me. I had a chance to ice the game and missed both.”
The wives set up a Tatum pull-up jump with 17.1 seconds left. LA then worked the clock to get James the buzzer-beater, but his 3-point attempt didn’t go down.
Just last week in the Lakers’ loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, when LA came back furiously only to force a collapse in the extra period, the Celtics broke the game to close things out.
“Games are not won or lost in the fourth quarter or overtime,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzula said. “We have to be good at managing the end of the third, the beginning of the fourth quarter. NBA games are won and lost, and we didn’t do a good job of managing that part of the game. So we will. Take the positives from how we worked to get back into the game and how we worked to finish the game. But we will focus on this scope.
Davis missed a free throw with 3.1 seconds left in Philadelphia and was responsible for both losses.
“Boston is a great team. Philly is a great team. Two great teams in the East,” Davis said. “I’ve had a chance as a team, but personally I’ve had a chance to close out both games. The one I missed in Philly, I missed both tonight. Both resulted in losses.”
Russell Westbrook (20 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks) scored the first four points of overtime to give LA a 114-110 lead, but the Lakers couldn’t hold on.
Davis finished with 37 points and 12 rebounds, while James had 33 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists.
Lakers coach Darwin Hamm played Davis all 29 minutes in the second half and rested James for 2 minutes, 28 seconds.
Davies refused to use fatigue as an excuse for the misses, but said Hamm should have made more rest for his riding team when he returned.
“Strategically, trying to see how we can use our time wisely and give ourselves breaks that way,” Hamm said. “I could have done a better job on certain occasions using my timeouts quicker. But that’s on me. I’ve gotten better at that.”
The Celtics entered the night with an NBA-best 21-7 record but had dropped two games in a row against the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers.
“That’s a proud team over there,” Hamm said of Boston before the game. “I believe with all my heart that they’re not happy at all.” Not only in the loss to the Clippers, but in the loss to the Warriors before that. We know we have our hands full.”
This is the second time this season that the Sentinels have led by double digits with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. The rest of the NBA has done a combined double this season, according to a survey by ESPN Stats & Information.
Despite the gut-punching nature of these results, Westbrook remains optimistic in the locker room.
“If you’re going to be competitive, you’ve got to believe,” Westbrook said. “But I can’t speak for everybody. I know for myself, God willing, as long as I can compete, then I’ll do that until it’s all done. But I’m sure men believe it’s just to create some consistency across the board.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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