Final: Celtics 139, Lakers 107 -- Balanced effort blows out Lakers

The doubters were forming about this Celtics squad in the midst of a three-game losing streak and six losses over the last right games. Against the NBA’s hottest team (winners of 10 over the last 11), the Celtics came up with quite the response. Jayson Tatum had a game-high 27 points to lead five different Celtics in double figures to hand the Lakers their biggest loss of the season in a 139-107 victory. Enes Kanter provided a huge boost off the bench with 18 points and 11 rebounds while Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker both added 20 points in their return to the lineup as the C’s shot a scorching hot 55.9 percent from the field and 47 percent from 3-point range in their most impressive victory of the year. 

• LeBron James will be traveling from Springfield to Boston this afternoon before gametime after watching his son play in the HoopHall Classic.


• Anthony Davis will play after sitting out the last four games with a bruised glut. He's averaging nearly 30 points per game in his career against the Celtics. Rajon Rondo remains questionable, but the rest of the C's roster is healthy.


• Brad Stevens on the Lakers strong start this year: "They’re elite, they’re elite. Obviously everybody, rightly so, talks about LeBron and Davis and they’re two of the best players in the NBA, but then I think they’ve got great guys around them that really know what they’re supposed to do. They do it really hard. They’ve got a couple of guys that have won big here that we’re very familiar with, obviously. The bigs are great for them. Their size and length are a problem. It’s been a problem for everybody in the league, and one of the things when you see it up close, it’s striking how big they are.”


• Kemba Walker will be back in the lineup after missing a game with a sore knee. It was not clear as of this morning if he will be dealing with a minutes restriction. Jaylen Brown will be active after a two-game absence as well.