The Lakers get their revenge on the Celtics
Jayson Tatum forced the Lakers to take their first timeout with 8:10 left in the first quarter because he was a one-man wrecking ball. The score was 14-8 then, and Tatum had scored all 14 of the Boston Celtics’ points, starting 5 of 5 from the field and 4 of 4 from deep. Robert Williams III also chipped in 8 points in the period while Josh Richardson added 9 off the bench.
LeBron James would not be outdone in the first quarter, as he took over for the Lakers and scored 16 points to counteract Tatum’s contributions. He hit shots from everywhere, including a 26-footer to give LA the 26-24 lead with 2:37 left in the opening period before the Celtics hit back to make it 33-31 heading into the second quarter.
Tatum slowed down a bit after his hot start, but still finished with 21 points in the first half, while James spent more time getting his teammates involved instead of shooting aggressively, finishing with 18 points at halftime.
Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook were quiet in that span, combining for 13 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists at halftime. The Lakers did enough collectively to take a 60-55 lead into the second half.
The Lakers had a strong start to the second half, and pushed their lead to 75-62 with 6:11 left in the third quarter. Westbrook came to life in the third period, scoring 15 points and had a massive slam to punctuate his performance.
By the time the fourth quarter started, that lead was 91-75, and the Celtics never got back into it as the game finished as a 117-102 victory for the Lakers.
James finished with 30 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Westbrook had 24 points, 3 rebounds and 11 assists, while Davis had 17 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
Tatum ended the game with 34 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Former Laker Dennis Schroder had 10 points and 5 assists while shooting 1 of 6 from the field.
Jaylen Brown was unavailable for the game, just like in their first matchup against the Lakers in November, which was a 130-108 blowout in the Celtics’ favour. It sure looked like they missed him this time around, though.
KD comes up big in the fourth quarter to steal a victory in Dallas
The Brooklyn Nets were getting whooped by the Dallas Mavericks through three quarters, but then used a huge fourth quarter to steal an away victory. The score was 86-75 heading into the fourth quarter, and Dallas led by as much as 17 in the game, but they simply couldn’t stop Kevin Durant and James Harden in the fourth quarter.
Durant had 11 points in the fourth quarter, which saw them outscore the Mavericks 27-13 on the way to a final score of 102-99. That three-point margin was the largest that the Nets managed in the game – and they only took the lead for the first time with 6:41 left in the game. It stayed close for the rest of the way after that, but Durant ended up scoring the final points of the game to preserve their slim lead.
Durant finished with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists while Harden almost had a triple-double with 23 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists.
Kristaps Porzingis had a double-double with 17 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Luka Doncic was the game’s leading scorer with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists. This one’s going to sting for the Mavericks and Jason Kidd.
The Nets are now 14-4 since starting the season 3-3.
