The Los Angeles Lakers have been the hottest team in basketball lately having won eight straight, although they put that streak to the test on Saturday evening when they began their road trip with a tough matchup against the defending champion Boston Celtics on ABC.
The Lakers beat the biggest rivals in L.A. earlier in the season so the Celtics were definitely looking for some revenge. Ultimately, that is exactly what they were able to get as they dominated the third quarter to earn a 111-101 victory and snap the Lakers' win streak.
L.A. was down two starters in Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes, and while it eventually caught up with them, they jumped out to a quick 7-0 start before Jaylen Brown got the Celtics on the board with a midrange jumper.
Luka Doncic continued the Lakers' nice start with a pair of a assist and a triple, although the Celtics' stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as well as Al Horford and Derrick White, settled the Celtics in with 3s of their own.
Jordan Goodwin got in on the action offensively with a pair of triples, but Tatum closed the quarter with two of his own to tie the game at 33 at the end of the first.
LeBron James got in on the action to begin the second with an assist to Dalton Knecht and then a three-point play. He started to take control offensively, while Brown's two-way play was powering the Celtics. Again though, it was Tatum that led a strong close to the second quarter to give his team a 58-54 lead at the half.
It wasn't a great start to the second half for the Lakers as the Celtics went on a 10-2 run to take their first double digit lead. The run wasn't done there as they stretched it to 19-2 until a layup by Doncic to end a long drought.
The Lakers' frustration was easy to sense and JJ Redick tried to spark his team by picking up a technical foul. After trailing by as many as 22 though, the Lakers couldn't get anything going and eventually went into the fourth quarter trailing 87-67. They were outscored 29-13 in the third quarter.
To their credit, the Lakers kept fighting as James, Reaves and Doncic finally got something going offensively to get the deficit back to single digits.
Unfortunately, James appeared to hurt his groin and was forced to head back to the locker room, eventually being ruled out for the rest of the game. Doncic continued the push for L.A. and all of a sudden they were trailing by just four.
That was as close as they would get though as the Celtics closed strong to secure the victory.
The Lakers will continue their road trip on Monday against the Brooklyn Nets, marking the first time Dorian Finney-Smith will play against his former team since being traded.