Lakers (24-25) at Celtics (37-11) Game #49 2/1/24

[Celtics2021]

I didn't have the opportunity to watch the game, so I can't comment on the vibes, although according to nearly everyone it appears to have been a throwback performance: Mailing in an 'easy win' and taking the foot off the gas as they look toward the All-Star break while having low effort come back to bite them in a trap game.

But one thing confuses me - somehow we wound up scoring more points in the paint than the Lakers, despite shooting 19 fewer free throws. Does anyone mind providing some context for that? It seems like it was more or less a 10-point game throughout, so normally I would think this is a fairly significant factor?

I did think the refs had a rather inconsistent whistle (Jrue Holiday was ejected from his position by a Russell push-off that led to a Celtics foul of Jaxson Hayes in one instance, and they went to the monitor to see if Tatum committed a flagrant on some pretty light arm contact in another), and Austin Reaves’ flopping game is on point, but it also didn’t feel like there were a lot of blatantly missed calls — mostly they would have been of the non-shooting variety.  The Celtics were consistently out of position on rebounds and after live-ball turnovers (of which there were many) which led to a lot of pretty easy calls for the refs.

[scaryjerry]

What’s the excuse this time?
Looks like everyone played and we got absolutely punked by Austin reeves and a bunch of no names in our own gym.
They’ve lost there mojo at home and the level of play is dipping consistently, a lot of teams playing much better than us right now. Just another good team.

[scaryjerry]

I’m actually glad they lost. In the overall scheme of things it’s clear they have an issue with the mental side of the game, not taking their opponent serious, being careless with the ball. A loss to a depleted Faker team on national TV is what they need for a dose of humility because they’re not as good as they think they are

This assumes that they'll actually learn from this experience. They've had plenty of other bad losses over the last couple years that they obviously didn't learn from, so I'm not confident.

Exactly, I’ve consistently heard this for years and they never learn anything. It’s clearly a Tatum /brown thing because the players and coaches have changed around them. Team is massively overrated at this point and the way they’re playing right now are going to get beat early in the playoffs by a team they don’t expect

[satch]

May be time to except this for what it is. Reality can be a tough pill to swallow.

[celticinorlando]

What’s the excuse this time?
Looks like everyone played and we got absolutely punked by Austin reeves and a bunch of no names in our own gym.
They’ve lost there mojo at home and the level of play is dipping consistently, a lot of teams playing much better than us right now. Just another good team.

No excuse. They sucked last night. They have sucked since they got back from the road trip. Blown out by the LA teams and scraped by the Pels and Pacers.

Good news is the Bucks are even worse. And the 76ers are in trouble.

[scaryjerry]

What’s the excuse this time?
Looks like everyone played and we got absolutely punked by Austin reeves and a bunch of no names in our own gym.
They’ve lost there mojo at home and the level of play is dipping consistently, a lot of teams playing much better than us right now. Just another good team.

No excuse. They sucked last night. They have sucked since they got back from the road trip. Blown out by the LA teams and scraped by the Pels and Pacers.

Good news is the Bucks are even worse. And the 76ers are in trouble.

Who cares what’s going on with the bucks and 76ers? We aren’t playing good enough right now to make it out of the 2nd round never mind win a championship. Hopefully we didnt already peak.

[wdleehi]

What’s the excuse this time?
Looks like everyone played and we got absolutely punked by Austin reeves and a bunch of no names in our own gym.
They’ve lost there mojo at home and the level of play is dipping consistently, a lot of teams playing much better than us right now. Just another good team.

No excuse.   A good team played bad.   Lost to a bad team missing their best players.   

Happens all the time.   

[celticinorlando]

What’s the excuse this time?
Looks like everyone played and we got absolutely punked by Austin reeves and a bunch of no names in our own gym.
They’ve lost there mojo at home and the level of play is dipping consistently, a lot of teams playing much better than us right now. Just another good team.

No excuse. They sucked last night. They have sucked since they got back from the road trip. Blown out by the LA teams and scraped by the Pels and Pacers.

Good news is the Bucks are even worse. And the 76ers are in trouble.

Who cares what’s going on with the bucks and 76ers? We aren’t playing good enough right now to make it out of the 2nd round never mind win a championship. Hopefully we didnt already peak.

Good thing there is a lot of the season left I guess. But I am not sure winning a championship would even be good enough for you anyway.

[Surferdad]

Celtics next 6 games need to be wins. Stop playing down to bad teams.

2 days off then Memphis
2 more days off then Atlanta

Get this stuff fixed

LAL without their 2 best players is also a bad team and that's what make this loss particularly painful. Their previous 3 losses were to LAC, DEN and MIL all VERY good teams.

It's not clear to me that this will be the wake-up call the team needs to play harder.

Where's Brad? His inaction is starting to become irritating. This is THE year to go all-in. After this season, I'm not sure he can keep this team together.

[Birdman]

Lakers actually look good last night, maybe it’s James & Davis hogging the ball instead getting other players involved..

[celticinorlando]

Celtics next 6 games need to be wins. Stop playing down to bad teams.

2 days off then Memphis
2 more days off then Atlanta

Get this stuff fixed

LAL without their 2 best players is also a bad team and that's what make this loss particularly painful. Their previous 3 losses were to LAC, DEN and MIL all VERY good teams.

It's not clear to me that this will be the wake-up call the team needs to play harder.

Where's Brad? His inaction is starting to become irritating. This is THE year to go all-in. After this season, I'm not sure he can keep this team together.

Agree. Last night was concerning. This team has a frontrunner mentlity that is unearned. It is not anything skill wise with this team. It is all mental. Just no Bird or Jordan killer instinct each night.

Playing down to bad or depleted teams has been an issue with this team. Took the Heat for granted and then when they woke up it was too late.

Even the 2 recent wins at home were still not positive. Got behind big time to the Pels and blew a massive lead to the Pacers.

[scaryjerry]

What’s the excuse this time?
Looks like everyone played and we got absolutely punked by Austin reeves and a bunch of no names in our own gym.
They’ve lost there mojo at home and the level of play is dipping consistently, a lot of teams playing much better than us right now. Just another good team.

No excuse. They sucked last night. They have sucked since they got back from the road trip. Blown out by the LA teams and scraped by the Pels and Pacers.

Good news is the Bucks are even worse. And the 76ers are in trouble.

Who cares what’s going on with the bucks and 76ers? We aren’t playing good enough right now to make it out of the 2nd round never mind win a championship. Hopefully we didnt already peak.

Good thing there is a lot of the season left I guess. But I am not sure winning a championship would even be good enough for you anyway.

Of course it would be but I’m not really getting my hopes up, I know there record is much better than anyone else’s which will just put more pressure on them when it matters and I simply don’t see them as a clear cut favorite…playoffs will be a long and extended bar fight

[smokeablount]

I kept my anger under control from the game, but hearing Reggie and Kevin applaud Lebron and AD for being great teammates for not completely spacing out on the sidelines after they both abandoned their teammates by ducking us, trying to avoid embarrassment… and their minions beat us and make them look good? Infuriating!

Guarantee Lebron/AD suit up vs the Knicks, and Knicks win.

[RMO]

Did we even attempt to set some screens to get a mismatch with Reaves who has a pretty poor reputation as a defender?

I'm not much of an X's and O's guy so maybe the lakers did a good job hiding him on defense.

It just didn't seem like it happened once in the game.  I would have loved to see Brown or Tatum go to work on Reaves.

Also on Reaves.  I don't watch the lakers much but I've heard about his flopping and last night it was pretty annoying.

[Donoghus]

Don't get me wrong, it's a bad loss.  But even the best of of teams has these games. 

They really should just take the mindset of "Bad loss, that's it. Let's move on".

IMO, this team is still winning the title in June.