Lakers winning streak snapped by Celtics

The Lakers’ eight-game winning streak came to an end with a rough loss to the Celtics on Saturday night.

Despite a valiant effort to mount a comeback in the fourth, it came up short, leading to a 111-101 loss against their dreaded rivals, the Boston Celtics.

LeBron James ended with 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. He left the game in the fourth quarter with a groin strain.

Luka Dončić scored 34 points to go with his eight rebounds and three assists. Austin Reaves had 16 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Dorian Finney-Smith pitched in with eight points and four rebounds. Jordan Goodwin had six points and three rebounds off the bench. Dalton Knecht had nine points and five rebounds.

Dorian started things with a 3-pointer, leading to fantastic offense for the Lakers. They jumped ahead by five.

All starters scored, with LeBron and Dorian scoring the most points. Jaylen Brown was leading the offense for the Celtics, scoring four points. At the first timeout, the purple and gold were up eight.

Jayson Tatum drained a 3-pointer out of the break. Dorian answered with another 3-pointer of his own. Los Angeles had been doing well with their defense, but Boston was starting to heat up.

Both teams were cooking from behind the arc, with the Lakers shooting 50% and Boston 66%.

The Celtics went on an 11-3 scoring run to tie the game, causing the Lakers to need a timeout. Jordan, who was back after missing a few games, drained a 3-pointer. Boston took their first lead at the 1:52 mark. At the end of the first, the game was tied.

The second quarter began well for the Lakers, with LeBron throwing an assist to Dalton for a layup. Austin drained a 3-pointer as well. It continued to be an evenly matched showdown, with neither team gaining any steam on the other.

Los Angeles wasn’t playing enough lockdown defense, leading to Boston having a few wide-open shot attempts, which they were converting.

Luka drained his second 3-pointer of the night, putting LA back in the lead. LeBron struggled from the free throw line, missing three.

At the midway point, LA shot 47% from the field, while Boston shot 43%.

As soon as the Lakers started to take a lead, the Celtics would come back and either tie it or take the lead back. The rest of the quarter was physical, with both teams making tough shots and playing good defense.

Tatum ended the quarter with a fastbreak run to cap off a great offensive performance of 22 points in the half. Only two Lakers scored in double figures for the first half.

At halftime, the green side was up by four.

Boston jumped ahead by eight to start the second half. Tatum and Brown led the way for their team. Los Angeles had turnovers and played messy ball, and they were also missing shots. Luka could not find his offense and committed a foul on Tatum from behind the arc, leading to three free throws, he converted on two.

The lead ballooned to 12 for the Celtics, leading to the Lakers calling timeout. There was still no other Laker in double digits with their scoring, thanks to the offense taking a dramatic nosedive.

LA’s defense was also lackadaisical, leading to the Celtics extending their run to 15-2.

The Celtics played excellent defense on LA, making them continue to miss shots and fumble the ball all over the place. Nobody on the Lakers could make a shot, only scoring nine points for most of the quarter until they found some offense to end with just 13 points in total. Boston was up 20 at the end of the third.

The final frame began with the Lakers trying to chip away at the massive Celtics lead. They cut the deficit to 15, while Boston missed shots they made easily in the third quarter.

Los Angeles was mounting a strong comeback, making seven of their nine shot attempts, while Boston only converted on three shots.

The lead steadily dropped for Boston as the Lakers continued to take advantage of the Celtics missing so many shots. Luka was also heating up even more, draining a 3-pointer. Brown answered with a 3-pointer on the other end.

LeBron left the game in the fourth with a groin strain. With 1:21 left, the Lakers fell apart again and their hopes of an epic comeback faded.

Key Takeaways:

You didn’t see this loss and neither did I.

The Lakers’ next game will be against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday at 4:30 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.