LOS ANGELES -- Everything you need to know about the Lakers’ 108-107 win over the Celtics in quickie form.
HEADLINES
No answer for Kuzma: The Celtics appeared to have the game under control with a six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. At that point though, Kyle Kuzma decided to take over. The rookie forward scored 17 of his team-high 28 points in the fourth quarter, rallying the Lakers from the six-point deficit and helping the hosts hold on to a one-point win after Marcus Smart’s potential buzzer-beater missed as time expired.
Kyrie Irving shines again: The All-Star point guard shook off a slow start and carried the Celtics on the offensive end for the final three quarters, scoring a game-high 33 points on 13-of-24 shooting. His impact was evident with his plus/minus (plus-16) as the Celtics offense fell apart during the majority of the 10 minutes he spent on the bench. Despite the stellar performance, Irving surprisingly didn’t get a shot in the closing seconds with the game on the line when Smart failed to look for him after rebounding a missed free throw from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
Four-straight losses for Celtics: Boston blew a 14-point first half lead thanks to Kuzma’s outburst and some domination on the offensive glass (23 second-chance points) and at the free throw line (36-10 edge in attempts) for the Lakers. The road gets no easier now as the Celtics have three road games remaining on the trip against likely playoff teams (Clippers, Warriors, Nuggets).
TURNING POINT
The Celtics held their final lead of the game at 91-90 when Jaylen Brown missed a dunk on an alley-oop pass from Smart during a fast break. The Lakers took advantage of the miscue with a Kuzma 3-pointer, jumpstarting a 7-0 run for the hosts who took command of the game from there. Boston was not able to recover from that deficit the rest of the way, since they only had a chance to tie late due to four straight missed free throws from the Lakers.
SECOND GUESS
Marcus Smart had better options on the final play of the game.
TWO UP
Irving: The All-Star has averaged 36.5 points over his last two games and has now scored 30+ points in 14 games on the season. He also scored 12 of his game-high 33 points in the fourth quarter.
Kuzma: The rookie forward continues to look like one of the biggest steals of the draft. He couldn’t miss in the fourth quarter, going 6-of-7 from the field to score 17 of the Lakers’ 32 points in the frame.
TWO DOWN
Jayson Tatum: The rookie wall has finally arrived for the 19-year-old. Tatum missed a handful of open looks during a 1-of-6 night and had a team-high three turnovers. He was also part of the defensive rebounding problem late in the game, which has dropped off for him considerably since the first month or two of the season
Aron Baynes: The center played some great defensive minutes in the first quarter, but his second half got ugly in a hurry. He rushed a shot in the lane, missed another corner 3-pointer and managed to pile up four fouls in just five minutes of action. One of the calls (a charge) was a bad break but the center is a rut right now and it hurts this team when he can’t be counted on for solid minutes.
TOP PLAY
Kyrie always manages to find space pic.twitter.com/5qUNrRo4IY
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 24, 2018