Kyrie Irving scored 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting as the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers 120-107 Saturday at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart added 16 points each for the 41-26 Celtics, who have won three consecutive games.
LeBron James posted a 30-point, 12-assist, 10-rebound triple-double in 28 minutes for the 30-36 Lakers, who have lost five straight. Rookie forward Mo Wagner scored a career-high 22 points, and rookie forward Johnathan Williams pitched in a career-high 18 points and 10 boards.
Los Angeles played without three of its five leading scorers in Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball. Ball and Ingram will miss the rest of the season with deep venous thrombosis and an ankle sprain/bone bruise, respectively. Kuzma is recovering from an ankle injury.
Perfect Storm Brewing for Celtics to Nab No. 3 Seed
The Celtics have endured a puzzling season that’s featured confusing losses to bad teams and heated postgame comments. They recently lost four straight and couldn’t score 100 in three of them, a tough task considering that every NBA team averages more than 101 points per game.
Despite these facts, the C’s are somehow alive for the Eastern Conference’s No. 3 seed.
The remaining schedule sets up well. Take a look at their upcoming slate and guess the amount of games where the C’s will be a underdogs. That will likely be the case for road games versus the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers, but the spreads won’t be massive. Otherwise, the most competitive contests look like pick ’ems at worst.
And that’s crucial for the Celtics, who are just 1.5 games behind the Pacers for third place in the East. The 76ers sit in the middle, a half-game ahead of Boston.
The Celtics are also benefiting from their opponents’ poor play. Simply put, no one is seizing the No. 3 seed.
The Pacers have been exceptional, considering they are playing without leading scorer, All-Star Victor Oladipo, who suffered a season-ending quad injury in January. However, they have gone just 10-10 in the 20 full games since Oladipo’s 2018-19 campaign ended.
The 76ers are trying to hang on without All-Star center Joel Embiid, who has missed his past eight games with left knee soreness. But Philadelphia has only gone 4-4, a stretch that has been capped by a loss to the 19-48 Chicago Bulls and a lifeless 16-point defeat to the Houston Rockets.
Embiid might return as early as Sunday against Indiana, per Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice, but the Celtics are going to emerge as winners regardless of who takes that game.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN explained why:
The Celtics also own the head-to-head tiebreaker against Philadelphia thanks to three regular-season wins. That could come into play given their close proximity in the standings, and FiveThirtyEight predicts Boston and Philly will finish tied for third in the East standings at 52-30.
Boston can hit that mark, as its fortunes seemed to have turned around. A cross-county plane ride to begin their Western Conference road trip, which began with a 128-95 win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors, is being credited as a catalyst for the turnaround.
Celtics center Al Horford told reporters:
“Kyrie was instrumental because he was the one that initiated everything as far as being like, ‘Hey, let’s have conversations, let’s play cards, let’s do this, let’s do that on this plane ride. And we were all engaged at that point.
“He’s the one who got that ball rolling…We spent a good amount of time together, we talked, we laughed, stuff like that. It just happened to be extended. As opposed to an hour or two hours, almost seven hours. You’d think we’d get sick of each other but, actually, it made the plane ride go quicker. We were just hanging out and talking.”
Irving spoke more about the plane ride in a recent conversation with reporters:
Perhaps that will be the turning point of the Celtics’ season. Granted, it’s possible the inconsistency that has plagued them pops up again at some point. It’s also conceivable the Celtics don’t rise any further than their current No. 5 spot.
However, Boston is showing signs of life, and everything is aligning for the team to leap a few spots in the standings.
What’s Next?
The Celtics will stay in town for a matchup with the Clippers on Monday. The Lakers will begin a five-game road trip against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday.
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