BSJ Game Report: Celtics at Lakers 6:30 p.m. - A rivalry renewed

BOSTON CELTICS (36-19) at LOS ANGELES LAKERS (34-21)

Location: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, Calif.

Game time: 6:30 p.m.

TV: NBC, Peacock

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Celtics injury report:

• Max Shulga - OUT (G League, two-way)

• Jayson Tatum - OUT (right Achilles repair)

• Amari Williams - AVAILABLE

Lakers injury report:

• Bronny James - OUT (G League, on assignment)

• Adou Thiero - OUT (G League, on assignment)

What to watch for: The Boston Celtics got a break after the break. Immediately after the All-Star break, they traveled to California, played one game against the Golden State Warriors, and then had a two-day break between games.

Now, they’ve journeyed down the West Coast to take on the Los Angeles Lakers. And this time around, for the most part, both teams are healthy.

Tale of the tape: The first time these two teams squared off (December 5), it was an absolute blowout. The Lakers were in Boston, but LeBron James and Luka Doncic were both sidelined.

Boston took advantage of those absences. Austin Reaves had 36 points, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The Celtics still won 126-105, led by Jaylen Brown’s 30 and Jordan Walsh’s 17.

Last game: In their game against the Warriors, the Celtics absolutely dominated. They were up by as many as 34 points, but a late run by Golden State made the game much closer than it otherwise would have been.

Kristaps Porzingis and Gui Santos led a late Warriors surge, turning a complete blowout into an actual game. Joe Mazzulla had to put his starters back in the game.

That said, they still managed to get the win. It was a perfect way to return from the break.

Standings check-in: With their win in San Francisco, the Celtics maintained their place as the second seed in the Eastern Conference.

They are still one game ahead of the third-place New York Knicks, but they’re also six games back of the first-place Detroit Pistons.

Lakers check-in: LA has been floating around the top six in the West for most of the season. Right now, they’re fifth in the conference but effectively tied with the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves in fourth and sixth.

They’ve won two games in a row and are 6-4 in their last 10 games.

Doncic has been leading the way, as per usual. In his last six games, he’s putting up 28.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.5 assists while shooting 48.7% from the field and 40.6% from deep on 10.7 three-point attempts per contest.

Reaves has been right behind him. He’s averaging 21.5 points in his last six games, shooting 53.3% from the field and 42.9% from beyond the arc on 4.7 three-point attempts per game.

As for James, in his last nine games, he’s averaging 19.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 8.6 assists. He’s shooting 47.5% from the field and 23.1% from deep on 4.3 three-point attempts.

Rui Hachimura and Luke Kennard have also been on fire from deep range. Hachimura is shooting 47.1% from deep on 3.4 attempts (last 10 games), and Kennard is shooting 42.9% on 2.8 three-point attempts (last five games).

One fun play: The Celtics knew what was going on here.

Payton Pritchard called Nikola Vucevic up for a screen. They knew Porzingis would be helping over from the corner, because they knew Golden State wanted to help on the screen.

So, once Will Richard helped up, and Moses Moody was behind the play, Vucevic rolled hard to force Porzingis away from the corner.

From there, it was two easy passes to find Hugo Gonzalez for a three.

(Moody should have rotated to the corner, but maybe it wasn’t part of the Warriors’ coverage plan? Very weird.)