The much-anticipated NBA Christmas battle finally started today, with the mid-season champion Los Angeles Lakers battling the Boston Celtics. Davis, the Lakers' center center, was on fire, scoring a game-high 40 points and 13 rebounds, but he was alone, and the Green Shirts, led by Porzingis and Tatum, stole points in the second half and gradually built up a lead. In the end, the Lakers lost 115-126 to the Celtics.
The Lakers, playing at home, got off to a bad start with a 12-0 run by the menacing Green Shirts, and although Reddish's three-point stop to stop the bleeding improved slightly, the Green Shirts did not stop firepower, leading by as many as 18 points at one point. Davis began to find his groove late in the first quarter, scoring five straight points to lead the team to a counterattack, but despite this, the Lakers were unable to close the gap.
Entering the second quarter, the Purple and Gold continued to chase points under the leadership of Davis. After Hachimura scored on a dunk, Reeves and Prince launched an onslaught on the outside, once tying the score. However, Porzingis and Holiday scored to help the Greenshirts pull away slightly, but Prince hit a three-pointer and AD scored on a solo shot, and the Lakers fought back to make it 57-58 at the end of the first half.
After the rematch, the two sides continued to play against each other, and the scores rose alternately. However, Boshen stepped up again and scored five points in a row to help the Green Shirts open up the gap again. After Tatum scored a breakthrough layup, the Green Shirts bench also joined the scoring ranks, taking a double-digit lead in a short period of time. Although Davis scored back-to-back points late in the game to close the margin back to single digits, it was Holiday and Brown who eventually came out on fire to regain a double-digit lead for the team. Although James and Davis tried to turn the tide, the difference in points was too great, and in the end, the Lakers swallowed the defeat by 11 points.
Davis scored a game-high 40 points and had 13 rebounds, making it the first time the Lakers have scored 40 points in a Christmas game since Kobe Bryant in 2004. However, the entire team's firepower was almost focused on him. Prince scored a team-high 17 points, while James had a near-triple-double of 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. However, the hit rate is less than 5 percent.
In contrast, all five of the Celtics' starters scored in double figures. Porzingis scored a team-high 28 points and had 11 rebounds. Tatum scored 25 points, Brown 19 and White and Holiday both scored 18. It is worth mentioning that this is also the first time that the Green Shirts have defeated the Lakers in the Christmas game. In the last two encounters, it was the Greenshirts who swallowed the defeat, and this time they were finally able to get their revenge sweetly.