The Los Angeles Lakers showed their tenacity in the NBA regular-season matchup on Feb. 2, beating the Boston Celtics 114-105 on the road, breaking a recent run of inconsistent form.
The Lakers have been in a win-loss cycle after a period of winning and losing, both against strong opponents and weak teams, and the team is currently in ninth place in the West, still hovering in the play-in zone. At the same time, the team's core James and Bushy Eyebrows have both failed to play due to minor injuries, and rumours of internal doubts about head coach Ham are also rampant, although unconfirmed, this atmosphere has undoubtedly put subtle pressure on the team.
In contrast, the Celtics have been riding high all the way, and no one has been able to shake their dominance in the East, and they are firmly in top of the East with a balanced and strong offensive and defensive performance. Given the Lakers' current roster, physical overdraft, and the absence of the duo, this victory would have been considered unpredictable against a strong, home-fighting Celtics.
Returning to the game itself, we start by focusing on the starting line-ups of both sides:
The Lakers camp sent five players, Russell, Reaves, Prince, Vanderbilt and Hayes;
The Celtics were joined by Holiday and White, Jaylen Brown, Tatum and Porzingis.
At the beginning of the game, the Lakers quickly got into a fighting groove, and Reaves showed a hot hand from the beginning, hitting a long-range three-pointer after receiving the ball, and then sent a subtle assist to help Vanderbilt complete a dunk, forcing the Celtics to call a timeout and adjust their tactics.
After a brief adjustment, the Lakers gained momentum, and Russell sent a wonderful hanging pass to Hayes through a pick-and-roll combination, and the latter dunked to give the Lakers a 16-10 lead over the Celtics at the beginning, which was a big surprise, after all, the Green Shirts rarely had such a passive start.
Then, the Celtics made a series of turnovers, and the Lakers took the opportunity to set off an offensive frenzy, Reaves hit another three-pointer, then staged a steal counterattack and scored a layup past three defenders to extend the margin to nine points. The Lakers are full of energy and a smooth offense.
At the end of the first quarter, although the Celtics played a wave of 8-0 spurt to close the score, the Lakers still led the second quarter by a narrow margin, and at the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led the Celtics 28-25.
Entering the second quarter, the Lakers' offense was more violent, Russell hit his third three-pointer with precision, and the Lakers had hit 8 three-pointers in the first 15 minutes.
In the face of the Lakers' offense in full swing, the Celtics were more passive at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, the Lakers took advantage of the victory to chase, Vanderbilt received the pass and hit three points steadily, and the Lakers had shot 10 three-pointers in less than halftime, as if even the iron tree was blooming at this moment, which made James and thick eyebrows, who were absent due to injury, quite embarrassed.
After the start of the second half, although the Celtics picked up on the offensive end, they were still unable to effectively limit the Lakers on the defensive end. The Lakers maintained an efficient scoring output, during which the Celtics closed the gap to six points by hitting four consecutive three-pointers, but at a critical moment, another three-pointer from Reaves helped the Lakers maintain a double-digit lead and enter the fourth quarter with a 10-point advantage.
The competition became more and more fierce in the final quarter, but the Celtics were never able to effectively close the score, and the Lakers firmly grasped the situation on the court, and the point difference remained around 10 points until the end of the game.
In the end, without the two main players of Zhan Mei, the Lakers defeated the mighty Celtics 114-105 on the road and won a valuable victory.