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Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers plays the ball against Baylor Scheirman #55 of the Boston Celtics during the second half of their game at Crypto.com Arena on February 22, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
Three-time NBA champion James Worthy could not believe the Los Angeles Lakers‘ lack of pride and “heart” in Sunday’s loss to the Boston Celtics. After the Lakers suffered a 111-89 blowout loss, Worthy questioned the mental makeup of JJ Redick’s team and appeared to take a shot at Luka Doncic as well.
“No heart. Weak,” Worthy said of the Lakers on Spectrum SportsNet’s postgame show.
“…It’s the Boston Celtics without [Jayson] Tatum,” he continued. “You’re at home. To me, you show no respect for the uniform. When you come out and get outrebounded like that. They [Celtics] sniffed a weakness and dominated.”
Further to Worthy’s point, the Lakers allowed the Celtics to score 17 second-chance points off of nine offensive rebounds, many of which were deflating.
A Shot At Luka’s Complaining
Worthy was specifically hurt to see the Lakers lay an egg against their historic arch nemesis, the Celtics, on a night when Pat Riley’s statue was unveiled.
“They’ve got to decide who they want to be,” Worthy said of the Lakers.
“To come out at home with no [heart] was just tough to watch.”
The 1988 NBA Finals MVP also appeared to take a shot at Doncic when he spoke about the Lakers complaining about the officiating in various stretches of the game. While Austin Reaves, Marcus Smart and head coach JJ Redick all received technical fouls, Doncic was seen complaining to the refs several times about certain no-calls.
“As a player when you kind of know you’re defeated,” Worthy said of the Lakers complaining to the referees, via Lakers Daily.
“You start to complain and you start to b**ch and moan and start looking at the referees.”
Lakers Marred by Technicals
Even Doncic admitted that the Lakers could not match the Celtics’ physicality, while quipping about the officials for not issuing a technical on him, even as they penalized three of his teammates at various points before the third quarter.
“I think they were very physical,” Doncic said of the Celtics. “They were playing great defense, so we need to be better on offense. To score only 89 points, that’s not like us.”
“Especially in the defensive end, you got to match the physicality.”
“You’re surprised it wasn’t me, huh? Then you know it’s bad,” Doncic said of him not receiving a technical, via The Athletic’s Dan Woike.
Many analysts blamed the Lakers’ technical fouls for the Celtics gaining momentum in the second half. The Celtics led 34-33 in the second quarter when Reaves and Smart both picked up technicals when Smart tried to contest a Payton Pritchard shot. Those two techs allowed the Celtics to extend the lead to five points.
Once again, in the third quarter, a technical foul on Reddick extended a nine-point lead to an 11-point lead and caused frustration within the Lakers camp. After the loss, Redick didn’t mince words on the officiating costing his team the momentum.
“They [referees] missed a blatant LeBron layup that was goldtended off the backboard, and Queta stuck his entire, I can’t jump that high, so he stuck his entire hand through the rim,” Redick told reporters.
“I’ll get some clarification on the rule of that because honestly that’s a great way to defend floaters.”
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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