Test awaits after a long road home
The Lakers will not have it easy after their 11-day trip as they face Celtics, who have NBA’s best record.
Over the course of 11 days, the Lakers traversed the country to play inspiring and other times harrowing games in Milwaukee, Washington, Cleveland, Toronto, Philadelphia and Detroit.
The games were fraught not only because of tough competition but also because of illness and injury the Lakers encountered on their six-game journey that ended with them holding a 3-3 record and some peace of mind on how they view themselves, even at 11-15.
Now they are back home and this challenge will test the Lakers’ fortitude that much more when they play host to the Boston Celtics at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night.
This game is more than just the Lakers meeting the Celtics, who have the best record in the NBA and two of the league’s dynamic stars in Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
This game also is about a storied rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics. It’s about hatred — and respect. It’s about the Lakers and Celtics sharing the league record for the most championships with 17 each.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham is well aware of the rivalry. He recalled growing up in Saginaw, Mich., and being a Detroit Pistons fan first and a Magic Johnson/Lakers fan second — he rooted for L.A. to beat Boston all the time.
“I know a lot of it, man,” Ham said Sunday night after the Lakers beat the Pistons. “But I’m from Michigan, man. Piston Land. We hated both of those teams. We hated the Lakers and the Celtics and the Bulls — just to throw that out there. But Magic was always our hero.
“So, if the Pistons weren’t able to do the job and they were no longer in contention, we had to shift our focus over to Earvin and the job he was doing with the L.A. Lakers. But I already know it’s a long, storied rivalry. And I feel thankful and blessed to be a part of it.”
The Lakers arrived in Los Angeles from Detroit in the wee hours of Monday.
They had their best win of the season against the Bucks to start the trip and rebounded from a tough loss to the 76ers with a victory over the stubborn Pistons.
The Celtics will be playing a back-to-back set after losing to the Clippers on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“I love it, man. I’m a huge believer in those types of games,” Ham said. “The league is filled with a bunch of fun, interesting matchups. Tough matchups. I like playing the best. Like the game against Milwaukee or the game against Philly the other night. And no disrespect to any other team, but those teams that are at the socalled ‘top of the food chain,’ you get to see where you are and how you compete. We’ve seen those teams and we’ve competed at a high, high level whenever we’ve seen a team like that, that’s in contention, that’s being promoted as a possible NBA champion. So, we look forward to the challenge and we’ll be prepared.”
The Lakers will play against a Celtics team that entering Monday led the NBA in scoring (120.3 points per game) and three-point shooting (39.7%) and was third in fieldgoal percentage (49.1%).
Tatum is in the most-valuableplayer conversations because he was tied for fourth in scoring (30.0) and shooting 47.2% from the field while averaging 8.1 rebounds and four assists. Brown was 12th in scoring (26.8) and shooting 50.1% from the field and averaging 7.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
Anthony Davis called Sunday’s win over Detroit a must-win game with Boston next on the slate.
“That’s why it was a must-win for us, to get this win feeling good about ourselves going into a big game back at home,” he said Sunday night. “So, we feel like we can beat anyone. We’re playing really good defensively, offense is clicking. So, we expect that to be a good game for us.”
After scoring 44 points against the Bucks and 55 against the Wizards, Davis began to suffer from flu-like symptoms against Cleveland and had to call it a night after just eight minutes. The Lakers lost that game and again in Toronto the next night while Davis recovered from his illness and LeBron James sat out because of ankle soreness.
James and Davis returned for the game at Philadelphia, but the Lakers lost in overtime after a stirring comeback in which Davis had a chance to put the Lakers ahead late but missed the second of two free throws.
They deemed the trip successful after ending the three-game losing streak in Detroit.
“I thought we played great basketball at times,” said Davis, who averaged 41 points in the four full games he played. “I thought we could have played better at times. But for the majority of the trip, I thought we played the way we want to play and I’m happy with the way we were able to come out [Sunday], and the hardest game on a six-game road trip is always the last one. Because you’ll be looking forward to getting back to your own bed, getting back to your own rhythm, getting back to your own place. So, for us to come out and play the way we played was huge. We got to try to get as much rest as we can starting from now all the way to Tuesday night because we’re going to need it because a very good team is coming into our building.”