LOS ANGELES — Pat Riley set the tempo, the tone of Lakers-Celtics in Sunday evening primetime on NBC.
Riley, 80, but still fiery as ever when it comes to seeing the Boston Celtics green-and-white jerseys running up and down the floor, sent the crowd at his statue unveiling into a rivalry-inclined cheer when he rallied on about it being “time to kick some Boston ass.”
The fire, years of Boston and L.A. in marquee postseason matchups, etched its latest chapter with a 111-89 defeat for the Lakers (34-22), where the exasperation of Sunday officiating left the Lakers chirping more at the officials than at where Riley – in Showtime Lakers-era fashion – directed his mental thunder: the Celtics. The Lakers shot just 39.1% from the field, never really breaking into a rhythm as Luka Doncic’s 25 points never really put a dent in the Celtics on Sunday.
Chirping began early. Marcus Smart and Austin Reaves earned a pair of technical fouls in the second quarter after Celtics small forward Jaylen Brown sent an elbow into Smart’s face on his way to the rim as Boston grasped a 36-33 lead. Reaves said he earned his technical for clapping in the face of an official, which the Lakers guard said he was told was an automatic technical foul.
The Celtics only grew their advantage from there after guard Payton Pritchard sunk a 3-pointer, spinning Doncic around for a step-back buzzer-beater for a 10-point lead before halftime.
Brown finished with 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, making his keep at the charity stripe (9 for 12 from the free-throw line). Meanwhile, Pritchard shot 6 of 9 from beyond the arc off the bench for 30 points, outscoring the Lakers outside of LeBron James, Doncic and Reaves, helping extend the Celtics’ lead to as many as 22 points. The Celtics, who shoot the third-most 3-pointers in the NBA, converted 38.9% of their looks (14 for 36) on Sunday, marginally above their season average entering the game (36.4%).
“We did a good job limiting their fastbreak points,” Coach JJ Redick said. “Did a good job of limiting their points in the paint to the 50. So we did enough defensively, we were just awful offensively tonight.”
Redick later earned a technical himself – the team’s third of the game – after expressing displeasure over an uncalled goaltending courtesy of Celtics center Neemias Queta. Redick hopped up and down, grabbing at the net in front of officials to try and prove his point.
“Queta stuck his entire, I can’t jump that high, so he stuck his entire hand through the rim, not just grab the net, stuck (his hand) through the cylinder,” Redick said. “So that’s typically a goaltend. … Obviously, they recognize that he did that and basically (said) that’s not a goaltend. So I’ll get some clarification on the rule of that because that’s a great way to defend floaters.”
Doncic’s 25 points came on 9-of-22 shooting. Eight of the Slovenian star’s points arrived in the first quarter when the Lakers held pat with the Celtics and knotted the game at 28 after Reaves produced a nifty shot fake to get Celtics guard Hugo Gonzalez in the air.
Reaves nailed all three free throws, a part of his 15-point performance on a 4-of-10 shooting night.
“We missed some good looks,” Reaves said. “They capitalized on that, having games where you don’t shoot well or offensively play well, you got to find other ways to keep yourself in the game.”
On the other side of the rivalry, Boston Coach Joe Mazzulla answered pregame questions over whether he was tired of hearing about whether foes were surprised at his Celtics’ success, considering their trade-deadline movement and star Jayson Tatum’s season-long absence. He said, yes, it’s two-fold – appreciating the gratitude, but also recognizing that his team, often led by Brown, Pritchard, and guard Derrick White (12 points) in scoring, is still finding ways to win.
Mazzulla credited his team’s rebounding performance postgame – outrebounding the Lakers 50-39 – and limiting the “little stuff,” such as holding the Lakers to one dunk, below their season average of more than five, he said.
The Lakers did make a late surge, using a layup from James (20 points, five assists and four rebounds) and a leaning hook shot from Rui Hachimura over Celtics center Nikola Vucevic to cut the Celtics’ lead to single digits at 86-77 with under 10 minutes to go. But after Mazzulla called timeout, Brown stamped victory on the Crypto.com court.
The 29-year-old, averaging nearly-30 points per game, drew contact from Doncic for an and-one bucket, fired home a 3-pointer and even when he missed from the corner with 3:37 remaining, Pritchard picked up the pieces for his sixth 3 to put the Celtics up 105-83.
“JB is … playing great basketball,” James said. “This whole MVP thing, I don’t understand why his name is not getting talked about some as well, like nobody gave him a shot to start the season.”
As the Celtics (37-19) put the finishing touches on the game, the visiting crowd grew louder – with “Let’s go Celtics” chants – Riley’s courtside seat lay dormant.
Notes
During Sunday’s game, James became the first-and-only player in NBA history to record 43,000-career points. …
Center Jaxson Hayes exited the game with 1:55 remaining in the first quarter with a right ankle injury. The Lakers ruled Hayes out during halftime.