Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics secured a 111-101 victory Saturday night over their long-time rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. Brown contributed 31 points on 52% shooting while Jayson Tatum added 40 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists in Boston's fourth-straight win.
The Lakers, who were on an eight-game winning streak coming into the matchup, had two starters out in the contest, Jaxson Hayes (right knee contusion) and Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy).
As is often the case, newly acquired superstar Luka Doncic was responsible for shouldering the offensive load for LA. The five-time All-Star supplied 34 points on 50% shooting including five three-pointers made.
After the first matchup between the Celtics and Lakers since Doncic's arrival, Brown had significant praise for his former NBA Finals combatant when talking about his offensive skill set.
"Luka [Doncic] is one of the greats. He is one of the generational talents," said Brown. "Offensively, his talent is next to none, so he's one of my favorite players on that side of the ball."
"Luka is one of the greats. He's one of those generational talents… offensively, his talent is next to none. He's one of my favorite players on that side of the ball."
Jaylen Brown had HIGH praise for Luka Doncic after the Celtics' win over the Lakers
(via @danield1214) pic.twitter.com/7XrnM1NWz7
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 9, 2025
Doncic did all he could in last year's NBA Finals matchup against the Celtics averaging 29.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per game on 47.2% shooting in the five Finals games (via StatMuse). Brown, the Finals MVP, averaged 20.8 points per game on 44.0% shooting in the 2024 Finals and was also credited for his 1.6 steals per game.
Although the Cleveland Cavaliers continue to run away with the top seed in the Eastern Conference, Boston is creating a gap of their own from second to third. The defending champions currently sit 5.5 games ahead of the New York Knicks for the second seed with 18 games remaining in the regular season.
Related: JJ Redick Assigns Blame After Lakers' Loss to Celtics
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This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 6:24 PM.