When you’re run off the floor by your rival, there aren’t many positives that can be taken away. Particularly with the way things played out in the fourth quarter, there was definitely a very sour taste in the mouths of fans walking away from that contest.
However, when looking at the box score, it wasn’t a total disaster for the Lakers. In fact, all things considered, it was one of the better defensive showings against a top team this year, even if every Payton Pritchard three felt like a dagger to the soul.
The problem for the Lakers came on the other end of the floor where they had arguably their worst offensive showing of the season.
“I think going against this team and their offense,” Redick said, “[when I] made the subs at 3:22 in the fourth quarter, they’ve got 105 points and they’re 12-for-32 from three and they’re shooting 47%. We did a good job limiting their fast break points [and] did a good job limiting their points in the paint under 50. So, we did enough defensively. We were just awful offensively tonight.“
Technically, the Lakers have had one game with fewer points this year, that coming in a mid-December loss to the Clippers. However, in that contest, Austin Reaves didn’t play and Luka Dončić left midway through the contest and didn’t return.
On Sunday, all three were healthy and the team laid a huge egg. While it’s fair to call the Big 3 a work in progress, there was no excuse for that performance against the Celtics.
For Reaves, while part of it came down to missing open looks, the process also wasn’t good, specifically in the first half, either.
“We missed some good looks,” Reaves said. “I think we could have done a better job in the first half playing with the pass [and] trying to create better looks in that first half. I thought [in] the second half, we did a good job of that. We missed some good looks and they capitalized on that.
“You’re going to have games where you don’t shoot it well or offensively play well. You got to find other ways to keep yourself in the game.”
The Lakers aren’t going to have the necessary time to figure things out. All of this is going to be rushed. But there is still a level of expectations that the team, and the Big 3 in particular, need to meet.
Sunday needs to be an aberration, though, based on how the season has played out, that might not end up being the case.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.