There is no more passionate rivalry in NBA history than a Boston Celtics taking on the Los Angeles Lakers. Moreover, there was a special feature this season: It’s the first time they collided after the inauguration of the Angelina franchise, meaning Los Angeles has overtaken Boston in the championship table.
She found the presence of both teams in a moment of doubt. The Celtics were looking for a necessary victory after losing three of the last games, while the Lakers reached the TD Garden after failing to beat the Sixers and Pistons. Above, both franchises don’t dominate their conferences as they are the third in each of them.
LeBron James and his company, as usual, entered the first quarter with the clear intention of moving their rival forward and so they took the partial 28-24. The Lakers were not satisfied in the first half, to the point that they were one maximum of 10 points (41-31), although Boston managed to narrow the margin and advance to the long rest to three units (52-49).
The Celtics got the message from Brad Stevens at half-time and despite not being a team that featured a good third quarter, this was the exception. The locals took the lead with a good Jayson Tatum (finished 30) and they were even able to take a nice gap at the end of the first 36 minutes with 78-71.
The worst came in the last quarter: an injury. Marcus Smart had to leave the court in pain, being a major loss for Boston as it is the best defender. The Los Angeles Lakers regained the lead with a triple by LeBron James five minutes before time in an 8-0 run and, while suffering to the last ball of the night, they had a 96-95 victory over the Boston Celtics.