LOS ANGELES — Sunday was a day of celebration for the Lakers as they honored Pat Riley with a statue before, fittingly, a game against the Celtics.
Even though Riley is with the Heat organization now, he made sure everyone knew the task at hand.
“The time has come to kick some a–,” Riley said. “To kick some Boston a–.”
The Lakers missed that memo.
Los Angeles didn’t come out like a home team looking to prove that they could go toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the NBA. And they certainly didn’t play with the intensity you want to see for a rivalry that’s often considered the best in sports.
Instead, they were blown out in their own building, 111-89.
The offense was inept, with Luka Dončić missing long two after long two and failing, hitting just one of his six attempts. Luka, though, was at least chucking shots at the basket as opposed to his backcourt mate, who disappeared. Austin Reaves took just 10 shots and was a complete non-factor in the second half.
In the second quarter, when Boston began to put the game out of reach, no Laker stepped up to counter. For every goaltend not called in LeBron’s favor, he missed two bunnies at the rim.
The energy wasn’t going to come from the Lakers’ role players either as they were too busy missing shots, turning the ball over or being targeted defensively. The result of it all was a lot of heads hanging, dejected looked and a team that, once again, was all too willing to fold under pressure.
For most of the contest, the Lakers had the urgency of a lethargic cat on a windowsill. They were going to be aggressive only when they wanted to be and no amount of buckets from Jaylen Brown or Payton Pritchard was going to motivate them to be better.
In the fourth quarter, when LA went on a short run to get the game back in single digits, Boston called a timeout and responded with aggression. Pritchard and Brown had their fingerprints all over the game offensively while the Lakers looked like helpless passersby, unwilling and unable to stop them.
With the Lakers playing at a laissez-faire level, the home crowd matched their energy.
Inside the packed stadium, the Celtics fans roared in approval of every Boston play. Celtics green was sprinkled throughout the crowd, and after a Neemias Queta dunk, fans cheered so loudly that it felt more like theTD Garden,not Crypto.com Arena.
The Celtics dominated in virtually every statistical category. They won the battle of the boards 50-39. Boston held LA to just 89 points, their second-fewest points in any game this season.
Lakers fans can blame this team’s results on its roster construction. Or take it out on the front office. Heck, on Sunday night, they can even blame the officials, who had a handful of questionable calls.
But ultimately, there is no justification for coming out and laying an egg against your biggest rival. Where is the passion? The anger? Did anyone notice any extra communication between the players on the court? A sense of urgency when the result was getting out of hand?
Let’s also not forget that LA is in the middle of a log jam in the West and needs every win possible.
Given how aggressively Boston played compared to Los Angeles, you’d think they were the team that had something to prove.
That the Celtics were the ones trying to demonstrate they could beat the best teams in the NBA. But that’s the thing about excellence, it’s always present, and it’s clear 56 games into the season that the 2025-26 Lakers aren’t that type of team.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.