The Los Angeles Lakers faced the Boston Celtics without LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Marcus Smart on Friday. It didn’t go well.
All three players were ruled out before the game, with James’ injury designation for right sciatica and left arthritis getting downgraded from doubtful to out. Smart is dealing with a left lumbar muscle strain, while Dončić has been away from the team for the birth of his second child in Slovenia.
The Boston Celtics had little trouble against the short-handed Lakers. Facing their old rival on a nationally streamed game on Prime Video, the Celtics were up 39-17 by the end of the first quarter, built a lead as large as 29 points and stayed up by double-digits for the entire rest of the game.
All five Boston starters scored in double figures, as did Sam Hauser off the bench. Jaylen Brown led the team with 30 points on 10-of-22 shooting with 8 rebounds and 8 assists.
One of those assists saw him leave poor Jake LaRavia on the floor.
On the Lakers side, Austin Reaves again stepped up as the team’s first and second option, finishing the game with 36 points on 9-of-18 shooting and eight assists. In five games played without Dončić, he is now averaging a cool 40 points per game.
James was coming off a notable performance Thursday night, when his incredible 10-point streak — which has stood since 2007 — ended in thrilling fashion. With eight points on the stat sheet, James had the ball in the waning seconds of a tie game against the Raptors, but opted to pass to Rui Hachimura, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer.
Friday represented the second leg of a back-to-back, making an appearance more demanding for the 40-year-old.
James has played in just six of the Lakers’ 21 games this season because of sciatica, and his 14.0 average points per game are easily the fewest of his career. His next-lowest total was in his rookie year in 2003-04, when he averaged 20.9 points in 79 games.
Despite the loss, the Lakers (16-6) are still tied for second in the Western Conference behind the one-loss Oklahoma City Thunder.
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