As the Lakers wrapped a treacherous run of schedule that had them on the road more often than not, Lakers coach Darvin Ham looked ahead to the next game — a trip home to host the Boston Celtics on Christmas afternoon.
“We get a chance to see where we are,” Ham said after the Lakers beat Oklahoma City on Saturday. “We’ve had a tough past 30 days, but we get a chance to get home, spend a day at home with our families on Christmas Eve, wake up, open up some presents and get down to the Crypto and get ready to get busy.
“You don’t have to have a Knute Rockne speech for this one.”
The Gipper scored as many points as any of the Lakers starters in the first three minutes of Monday’s game, a miserable stretch that forced the team to sprint uphill for the remainder of a game they eventually lost 126-115.
“You know, we came back a little bit lethargic, just coming off a long trip, and then the whole Christmas circumstances of the holiday or whatever, early game took us a little bit of time to get going,” Ham said. “But we had some great looks early. A couple bad turnovers, but for the most part, I mean, you go back and look at the shots we got, theirs went in and ours didn’t, but we had some really terrific looks at the rim. And our guys kept fighting.”
Boston’s 12-0 start became an 18-point lead in the first before the Lakers began to claw back.
Lakers forward Anthony Davis flashes the signature “freeze” sign after making a three-pointer against the Celtics during the second quarter Monday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
And despite being road weary and, fairly obviously, further behind in their development as a team this season, the Lakers fought.
Anthony Davis dominated, scoring a season-high 40 to go with 13 rebounds and Taurean Prince tied a season-best with five threes.
The Lakers led early in the third quarter before Boston’s toughness, talent and size took over.
Early it was Jaylen Brown in the mid-range before Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis took turns giving the Lakers problems. And all game, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White played the kind of two-way game that has them considered one of the best all-around backcourts in the NBA.
“Their lineup has been pretty, pretty much intact the entire year,” Ham said. “With us, just trying to mix and match. Some guys are more offensive dominant, some guys are more defensive dominant, but they’re trying to find that balance within the lineup. I think the circumstances of our injuries have definitely affected any type of cohesion.”
Meanwhile, the group that started for the Lakers on Monday — Davis, LeBron James, Prince, Cam Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt — failed to give the Lakers the kind of defensive punch Ham hoped when he put the group together before the Lakers’ win against the Thunder.
James scored just 16 points on five-of-14 shooting, tumbling to the court in a heap in the first half after kneeing Brown in the back during an awkward defensive possession.
He remained in the game.
“My knee is a little sore right now and the best thing, finally, the schedule is kind of in our favor with two days before we have to play again,” James said. “So, just a freak play right there between me and Jaylen Brown.
“I’m happy I was able to walk off on my own power, but definitely a little sore right now.”
Lakers forward LeBron James grimaces in pain while lying on the court after colliding with Celtics forward Jaylen Brown during the game Monday.
(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)
The Lakers play Charlotte on Thursday before two final road games to close 2023 — a stretch where the team hoped to measure itself against the best.
Instead, they’ve had to fight fatigue and frustration at nearly every step.
“We all know guys have been out. But, at the end of the day, you go in the locker room and everyone you see in there, they’re workers,” Austin Reaves said. “Intelligent guys that have played the game for a long time with the head of the snake, Bron and AD, they know the game, know what we need to do to be better.
“For us, we just got to figure out how to help them and from there, we’ll continue to get better. We’re not going to give up, obviously.”
