The Los Angeles Lakers squared off with the Boston Celtics on Monday and put on one of their worst performances of the season. Despite getting star big man Anthony Davis back from injury, the team looked flat and lost by 32 points. It was a reality check for a team that’s looked close to unstoppable all season and it happened against their archrival. Davis seems to know why his team took the loss.
“We didn’t rebound. Offensive rebounds killed us. We had some turnovers. They were more physical. They just basically did whatever they want the whole night and we didn’t respond, so we can’t do afford to do that especially on the road against a team like this… or against any team,” Davis said, per Spectrum SportsNet. “We gotta make sure we come out and be the one that’s aggressive. We’re hitting guys first, we’re rebounding the basketball and running. That’s when we’re at our best.”
It was an ugly loss for the Lakers, but it shouldn’t be something to worry about just yet. Los Angeles has proven that they can bounce back after a bad loss and they’ll have a chance to avenge the loss next month at Staples Center.
Brad Stevens Was Worried About LeBron Despite Lead
Even though the Celtics had a huge lead on the Lakers, head coach Brad Stevens still felt uneasy about the game thanks to LeBron James.
“The other day we were up 30 and I was just worried LeBron was going to do LeBron things,” Steven said, via Jared Weiss. “That’s probably not a healthy way to live.”
There are few teams in the NBA that could close a 30 points lead with relative quickness and the Lakers would definitely be one of them. LeBron has orchestrated many impressive comebacks in his career, but it didn’t happen on Monday. That said, no team should take their foot off the gas if they have a big lead against the Lakers.
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LeBron Calls Loss a ‘Butt Whooping’
LeBron also had a chance to comment on the loss and he clearly wasn’t pleased.
“I mean, listen, it was just a good, old-fashioned butt whooping,” James said, via Yahoo Sports.
The game was an all-around domination by the Celtics and the Lakers know it.
“That’s all. They beat us in all facets of the game: outside, interior, points off turnovers, offensive rebounds. So, it’s the main ingredients in the loss.
“We haven’t moved on yet. [Tuesday], we will. Still simmering right now, which it should. But it’s a long NBA season. You don’t want to have games like this, but if you do, you try to learn from the mistakes. Or you do learn from the mistakes, and you move on.”
Thanks to their impressive start to the season, it’s easy to forget that this Lakers team is filled with many new faces, including at head coach. There are bound to be some major growing pains throughout the regular season. Hopefully, they’ll have everything figured out come playoff time.
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Lakers’ Anthony Davis Drops Revealing Comments About Loss to Celtics