One night after their overtime win against the Clippers, the Celtics looked out of gas against the Lakers

Just one night after their dramatic overtime win against the Clippers, the Boston Celtics took the court in Los Angeles once again, this time for a showdown with LeBron James and the Lakers. Playing their fifth game in seven nights, though, the Celtics didn’t seem to have enough gas for another high-profile thriller. They fell behind Los Angeles early and never seemed to be able to make up the gap, suffering a tough 117-96 loss.

Kristaps Porzingis was seemingly the only Celtic with a pulse tonight, leading the team with 22 points. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, having played heavy minutes the night before, combined to shoot just 12-of-31 from the field. Nobody else fared much better, with Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Al Horford all failing to record more than one made basket. The Lakers dominated this team, and didn’t seem to break a sweat in the process. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves each scored 20 points or more, while Gabe Vincent added four three-pointers off the bench.

The Celtics did the bulk of their damage from deep in the early going. They connected on four of their first six triples, a reasonable offensive start spearheaded by a red-hot Porzingis (11 first quarter points), who at one point shook off a Joe Mazzulla substitution to buy some extra early minutes against the Lakers’ defense. The Latvian center’s frontcourt adversary, Davis, led the way for Los Angeles, excelling on both ends with nine points and two early blocks. The Celtics ended the first quarter trailing by 11, 34-23, after a poster dunk from James in the closing seconds.

The Celtics increasingly seemed to be dragging as play resumed in the second quarter, to some extent undoubtedly due to the extra minutes on the front end of the back-to-back. Their offense went ice cold, with Payton Pritchard the only Celtic to connect on a three-pointer for nearly 18 minutes of game time after their torrid start — part of a 1-of-5 shooting start for the reserve guard.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, looked energized. James rattled the rim with another highlight reel dunk midway through the quarter, and a three from Austin Reeves established a game-high 14-point lead for the Lakers. They hammered the Celtics throughout the quarter, nailing nearly 60% of their attempts from behind the three-point line. At the halftime break, the Celtics found themselves facing an uphill battle, trailing Los Angeles 67-48.

At the half pic.twitter.com/n6SGoel3FG

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 24, 2025

As play resumed, the Celtics returned to the court with a bit of pep in their step. The Lakers’ 19-point halftime advantage dwindled to 12 in the early minutes, as Boston found a rhythm offensively and forced a JJ Redick timeout after a 6-0 run. Uncharacteristically, though, struggles at the free throw line prevented them from drawing within single digits of the Los Angeles lead. Tatum and Brown both found their way to the free throw line after the timeout, but the duo each missed both of their freebies. Two free throws from Davis and a Rui Hachimura layup later, and the Celtics were back in the muck.

Though Tatum cost the Celtics at the line, his improved play led them back into the game to begin with. The freshly minted All-Star starter had struggled for much of the first half, with just three points to his name. Late in the second quarter, though, Tatum found a bit of momentum, scoring five points in the closing minutes. He built on that modest groove with a pair of threes early in the third quarter. The charity stripe dilemma overshadowed all, though, and the deflated Celtics scored just six points across the last seven minutes of the quarter, and entered the final 12 minutes of regulation trailing by 15, 83-68.

The fourth quarter began and the Lakers christened it with a 12-2 run. That about put the game to bed for Boston tonight, as Joe Mazzulla called timeout with the Celtics facing their largest deficit of the entire season, down 25 points. Mazzulla emptied the bench from there, and the Celtics fell to 30-14 on the NBA season.

Next up, the Celtics will wrap up their four-game road trip with an NBA Finals rematch, visiting the Dallas Mavericks this Saturday at 5:30 PM EST on ABC.