Boston Celtics (31-13) at Los Angeles Lakers (23-18) Game #45 1/23/25

The Celtics stay in Los Angeles to take on the Lakers for the 3rd game of their 4 game road trip.

The Celtics continue their road trip with a game against their long time rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. This is the first of 2 games between these two teams this season. They will meet for a second time in Boston on March 8. The series was tied 1-1 last season with each team winning on the road. The Celtics are 166-134 overall all time against the Lakers. They are 55-77 on the road against them.

The Celtics remain 2nd in the East and after a win by the Celtics and a loss by the Cavs on Wednesday, they are 5.5 games behind first place Cleveland. They are 2.5 games ahead of the 3rd place Knicks and 5.5 games ahead of 4th place Milwaukee. The Celtics are 16-5 on the road and 6-4 in their last 10 games. They are 7-4 against Western Conference teams and have won their last 2 games.

The Lakers are 6th in the West, 11.5 games behind 1st place Oklahoma City and half a game behind the 5th place Los Angeles Clippers. They are 1 game ahead of 7th place Dallas. The Lakers are 15-6 at home and 5-5 in their last 10 games. They are 7-7 against Eastern Conference opponents and are coming off a win in their last game.

The Celtics are playing the 3rd game of a 4 game road trip that started with a 40 point win over the Warriors and a 4 point win over the short handed LA Clippers. They will visit Dallas to finish the road trip. They then face Houston and Chicago at home before 3 more on the road through New Orleans, Philadelphia and Cleveland. Then one game at home against Dallas before playing at New York and Miami and home against San Antonio before the All Star Break.

The Lakers are playing in the second straight home game They beat the Wizards at home on Tuesday. After this game, they will head out on a 6 game road trip that will take them through Golden State, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, and finally the Los Angeles Clippers. They will then play Golden State, Indiana, and Utah at home and at Utah before the All Star Break.

The stood pat for the most part this off season, bringing back the core group to try for a second championship. The Lakers added Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, Jr through the draft. They lost Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie to free agency. They traded D’Angelo Russell and Maxwell Lewis for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. Their biggest move was to fire head coach Darvin Ham and hire JJ Redick.

Since Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis all were out against the Clippers on Thursday, I’m guessing that all three will play in this one, even though at this time all 3 are listed as questionable. For the Lakers, Jalen Hood-Schifino (hamstring), Jarred Vanderbilt (foot) and Christian Wood (knee) are all out. LeBron James (foot) and Anthony Davis (calf) are listed as questionable, but I’m guessing that both will play.

Probable Celtics Starters

Celtics Reserves
Luke Kornet
Payton Pritchard
Neemias Queta
Sam Hauser
Baylor Scheierman
Jaden Springer
Xavier Tillman, Sr
Jordan Walsh
Al Horford

2 Way Players
JD Davison
Drew Peterson
Anton Watson

Injuries/Out
Al Horford (toe) questionable
Kristaps Porzingis (illness) questionable
Jrue Holiday (shoulder) questionable

Head Coach
Joe Mazzulla

Probable Lakers Starters

Lakers Reserves
Dorian Finney-Smith
Jaxon Hayes
Bronny James, Jr
Dalton Knecht
Shake Milton
Cam Reddish
Gabe Vincent

2 Way Players
Trey Jemison III
Christian Koloko
Armel Traore

Injuries/Out
Jalen Hood-Schifino (hamstring) out
Jarred Vanderbilt (foot) out
Christian Wood (knee) out
LeBron James (foot) questionable
Anthony Davis (calf) questionable

Head Coach
JJ Redick

Key Matchups

Kristaps Porzingis vs Anthony Davis
Davis has been playing well and is averaging 25.6 points, 11.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks per game. He is shooting 52% from the field and 31.8% from beyond the arc. I’m hoping that Porzingis plays to slow Davis down as keeping him in check will be important if the Celtics hope to win this game. Davis is listed as a game time decision but I‘m guessing that he will play.

Jayson Tatum vs LeBron James
LeBron is averaging 23.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, 8.9 assist and 1.1 steals per game. He is shooting 51.4% from the field and 40.3% from beyond the arc. Even at 40 years old, LeBron is making a difference for the Lakers. He always seems to put out extra effort when he plays against the Celtics as well. The Celtics need to try to prevent him from getting inside and from getting open shots since he has been shooting very well from the perimeter.

Honorable Mention
Jrue Holiday vs Austin Reeves
Reeves is averaging 18.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. He is shooting 44.5% from the field and 36.9% from beyond the arc. The Celtics need to play Reeves for both the shot and the pass.

Keys to the Game
Defense – I can’t say it enough that defense is the most important key to winning. The Celtics are 5th in the league with a defensive rating of 109.3. The Lakers are 22nd with a defensive rating of 115.0. The Celtics have played good defense off and on in recent games but they still are not consistent on that end. They must stay committed to playing tough, lock down defense, especially against a Lakers team with some very good offensive weapons. The Celtics must especially defend in the paint as the Lakers are 12th in the league with 49.7 points in the paint per game.

Rebound – Rebounding takes effort and energy and the Celtics will need both to out-rebound the Lakers. The Celtics need to crash the boards and keep the Lakers from getting second chance points and fast breaks. The Celtics are averaging 45.3 rebounds per game (10th) while the Lakers are averaging 41.0 rebounds per game (28th). The Celtics must put out extra energy and effort to beat the Lakers to rebounds.

Be Aggressive – The Celtics must be the more aggressive team. They have to be aggressive in going to the basket, in diving for loose balls, and on defense. They have to aggressively crash the boards. They have to be the team that wants it more. In most of their losses, they have allowed their opponents to play harder and be more aggressive. They absolutely can’t let the Lakers play harder than them if they want to have a chance to win.

Play Team Ball – The Celtics are at their best when they keep the ball moving and find the open man and the best shot. When they play iso ball and players try to do too much individually, they falter. They need to move the ball carefully to avoid turnovers and they need to play team ball without any player trying to do too much.

X-Factors

Back to Back on the Road – The Celtics are playing in the second of back to back games on the road. They are 5-2 so far on the second night and 3-0 when both games are on the road. However, they played a tough game against the Clippers that went to overtime and fatigue could come into play in this game. The Celtics need to dig deep and play through the fatigue. The Celtics will also need contributions from their reserves to keep the starters fresh for the end of the game. They also need to fight the distractions of playing on the road and keep their focus on playing the right way.

Pride – “Beat LA” is one of the most iconic chants in sports. This is a storied rivalry and no matter the circumstances, the Celtics always want to beat the Lakers and vice versa. The Celtics have to focus on the game and on playing aggressive basketball. It’s a matter of pride and the Celtics need to get the job done and “Beat LA”. On the other hand, LeBron always has a chip on his shoulder against the Celtics and LeBron and his teammates are going to give extra effort to beat one of their biggest rivals.

Officiating – The officiating is always an x-factor. Every crew calls the game differently and the Celtics have to adapt to how the game is being called and not allow bad calls and no calls to take away their focus. If you doubt that officiating is an x-factor, just think back to the last Finals between these two teams. In game 7, the Celtics were up 6 going into the 4th quarter. The refs had called the game evenly up until then. But in the 4th quarter, the referees took over and it cost the Celtics that game. The Lakers took 21 free throws in the 4th quarter alone while the Celtics took 6. The Lakers took more free throws in the 4th quarter than they did in the first 3 quarters combined. (Yes, I’m still bitter about this.) Hopefully they call it fair in this game and let both teams play.

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