Boston Celtics
There was no LeBron James. No Jayson Tatum. No Luka Doncic. Even Marcus Smart was ruled out.
COMMENTARY
The amount of talent that was not available to play in Friday night’s Celtics-Lakers matchup was staggering.
There was no LeBron James. No Jayson Tatum. No Luka Doncic. Even Marcus Smart was ruled out for what would have been his first game back in Boston as a rival Laker.
This was a nationally-televised Friday night contest between two legendary franchises who are in the top-5 of their respective conferences.
Before the game, the Celtics attempted to give the matchup some juice, calling it the “next chapter in the association’s greatest rivalry” in a post on X. It was certainly a pricey ticket for fans.
But, outside of Jaylen Brown, the all-stars associated with both franchises were absent, and a potentially juicy matchup became just another checkmark on the schedule.
“Just another game,” Brown said after the 126-105 Celtics triumph. “Obviously, those are great players. It’s an honor to compete against those guys, but my job is to go out there and help our team get wins and that’s what we did tonight.”
Brown was stellar once again, pouring in 30 points to go with eight rebounds and eight assists. The outcome was never in doubt. Boston jumped out to a 39-17 lead and kept steady control of the game for the remainder of the night.
But, man, seeing the only time the Lakers visit Boston this season reduced to “just another game” felt like a missed opportunity.
There are, of course, reasons why things shook out this way. Doncic was out for undisclosed personal reasons. James is battling sciatica and arthritis. Celtics fans are well aware of Tatum’s Achilles’ injury. Smart is dealing with a back injury.
Payton Pritchard said the absences didn’t take any juice away from the Celtics’ win.
“I mean, maybe for the fans, but we’re trying to win a game,” Pritchard said. “It puts another ‘W’ in the win column for us if we win it, so it doesn’t matter who is playing out there.”
But, it does matter to the people who showed up to watch. The NBA is a star-driven league. The star players and marquee moments make this rivalry what it is.
Rhode Island native Joe Mazzulla recalled the excitement of watching the Celtics win the NBA Finals against the Lakers in 2008, with Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol, and Rajon Rondo battling on the parquet.
“I would probably say it would be ’08,” Mazzulla said, when asked what moment made this rivalry feel different than others. “That was probably the biggest version of that. I think I was in college then and I really started to appreciate basketball. I would say that brought that to light from a competitive standpoint.”
Brown said it didn’t take long after he was drafted to see what the Celtics-Lakers rivalry can be.
“Right away, the first one I ever experienced,” Brown said. “Celtics-Lakers one where, you can feel the atmosphere, you feel the energy in the building. And then, as a player, what better basketball environment do you want? There’s a lot of history and there’s a lot of people excited. You’ve got to show up ready to play.”
The Celtics and Lakers both have plenty of firepower this year. They also have the weight of a shared storied history competing against each other. You couldn’t feel much of that on Friday night.
It wasn’t too long ago that Doncic was teaming up with Kyrie Irving, trying to take down the Celtics in the NBA Finals. James’s history of competing against Boston goes back more than two decades at this point. There’s also the question of how many Boston trips the 40-year-old James has left before he retires.
Those storylines, along with Doncic’s scoring prowess and James’s sheer fame, would ordinarily have made this game one of the biggest of the season if it were played at another date.
The “Beat LA” signs were still raised. The Lakers got the “Gino Time” treatment after finding themselves at the wrong end of a lopsided blowout. There was still a big, loud crowd inside TD Garden for the game.
The Celtics took care of business and you can’t knock them for that. You have to play who is in front of you.
It was Celtics-Lakers, but it didn’t really feel like Celtics-Lakers, which is unfortunate given how few times these teams meet during the regular-season.
The rematch will come a couple of weeks after the All-Star break, on Feb. 22 in Los Angeles.
“I think you have to be aware that it’s a blessing to be able to be a part of something that’s much bigger than yourself,” Mazzulla said. “The rivalry has been around a lot longer, it’s going to be around longer than I’ve been here.
“I think along the way you take advantage of the perspective and the blessing of it … the opportunity and the blessing that it is, to be able to do that, you can’t take it for granted.”
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