Teams lose games for many reasons, but in the Lakers’ loss to the Celtics, it was clear that things fell apart in the third quarter.
They were outscored 29-13, had six turnovers and dug themselves a hole they never could get out of despite a respectable rally in the fourth.
After the defeat, coach JJ Redick talked about what went wrong in the game.
“We wanted to attack their bigs in space and we wanted to attack their smalls in tight spaces,” Redick said. “I don’t think we did a good enough job of attacking their smalls in tight spaces and that’s what I mean from earlier, just about some out-of-character things.
“I’m not sure what got lost in translation but our guys have been great with that stuff. And, frankly, Al Horford is awesome still. He still moves his feet and does a really good job defensively.”
No doubt Al Hordford frustrated the Lakers. Luka Dončić struggled to score on him, as did the rest of the team.
With the Luka Lakers having so much success, opposing teams will undoubtedly look at how the Celtics defended them and try to emulate as much of it as possible.
If Redick is right and the mistakes and lack of execution were “out of character,” then you can chalk this up as the first loss in a while and against a top team and not make it into something more.
While the defeat was frustrating, there is solace in knowing that the Lakers never gave up. They fought back hard in the fourth quarter and may have completed the comeback had LeBron James not gotten injured.
Overall, the Lakers have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA, so one game shouldn’t erase how well they’ve been playing over the last few weeks.
With key players out, the rest of this road trip will be challenging, but if they follow Redick’s plan and correct these mistakes, they should be able to continue winning enough games to stay afloat in the Western Conference.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at@ECreates88or on Bluesky at@ecreates88.bsky.social.