The Lakers run past the Celtics

Los Angeles (News4usonline)—The Los Angeles Lakers defeated their longtime rival, the Boston Celtics, in a blowout win at Crypro.com Arena. The Lakers did not just beat the Celtics, but they completely dominated this defending champion team.

There was a clear difference in energy and spirit in the Lakers’ effort level against the Celtics, which carried them to a 117-96 win.

“We had a gameplan, and we executed it. For the majority of the 48 minutes, we executed it against a great team, the defending champions, great players, and they’re going to put you in situations that are uncomfortable, but you’re going to have to be uncomfortable in order to compete,” LeBron James said after the game.

Anthony Davis scored 24 points and had 8 rebounds in a 117-96 win the Los Angeles Lakers produced against the Boston Celtics at Crypto.com Arena on Jan. 23, 2025. Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline

The Lakers against Celtics is historically one of the greatest rivalries not just in NBA history, but overall in sports. The history of these respected franchises in their desire to win championships, makes every matchup between the two much anticipated.

Rookie Dalton Knecht from the Lakers played his first game in this rivalry and acknowledged how the energy was different for this matchup.

“From the start of the jump you can just tell the atmosphere was a little bit different, and it was good to be out there and be competitive and make sure we’re gonna be going 120 percent all the time,” said Knecht.

In bringing the intensity into this matchup, the Lakers were able to play on a big lead for the majority of the game. There was a tone of defense that was set right away in the first quarter by the Lakers as they only allowed 23 points total for the quarter.

“I thought that was one of, if not our best, games in terms of executing our defensive gameplan,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said.

Limiting a team with a plethora of talent like the Celtics to such few first-quarter points helped the team gain momentum. Redick has been pushing more defensive consistency and the Lakers answered the call.

“I think that was one of if not our best games in terms of executing our defensive gameplan,” said Redick.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James secured a double-double against the Boston Celtics during an NBA game played at Crypto.com Arena on Jan. 23, 2025. James scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the Lakers’ 117-96 win. Photo credit: Mark Hammond/News4usonline

Usual impressive performances from James (20 points, 14 rebounds), Anthony Davis (24 points, 8 rebounds), and Austin Reaves led the way to this victory. Efforts from the bench contributed to adding on the dominance over the Celtics.

Gabe Vincent and Knecht provide a much-needed spark against the Celtics who are known for their own vaunted defense. Contributions from other players showed an all-hands-on-deck mentality to defeat their rival Celtics team.

“It was great,” Davis said about the overall performance of the team’s defense. “The coaches did a good job of getting us prepped for these guys. They have a lot of isolation guys, a lot of guys who can score the basketball. As pros and what we’ve been talking about the past couple days, we came in and executed it.”

There have been some ups and downs for this Lakers team in the first half of the season. Defeating a rival such as the Celtics who are also the defending NBA champions and currently place Top 3 in the Eastern Conference, could be a launching point for the Lakers. After losing their last two home matchups to the Celtics, they finally snapped that streak in dominating fashion.


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