In a clash of nobility of the NBA, Boston Celtics, current champion, beat Los Angeles Lakers by 111-101 and ended the streak of eight consecutive victories of Los Angelinos, who lived an extraordinary moment after the arrival of Slovenno Luka Doncic.
The TD Garden match of Boston ended up between MVP songs for Jayson Tatum, decisive with 40 points, twelve rebounds and eight assists, and with an ovation for the Dominican to Horford, protagonist with a huge effort on both sides of the track. The Celtics reinforced their second place in the east (46-18).
40 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists
Boston’s TD Garden match ended up among MVP songs for Jays Tatum
The Lakers, seconds in the west (40-22), fell with honor, after touching what would be an epic comeback when cutting from a -22 to a -4 in the fourth period, but they also ended up with alarms after LeBron James retired in the last minutes for groin discomfort. Doncic sealed 34 points and eight rebounds, and had five losses, in 37 minutes.
A total of 35 rings gathered in the parquet of the TD Garden for a great NBA classic, a star clash between Celtics, 18 times champions, and Lakers, which add 17, which the angels arrived after an unbeatable moment of form. The current champions, despite the decline of the late Kristaps porzingis, stopped their enthusiasm based on aggressiveness and physical power.
Starting with a commendable horford. The Dominican will turn 39 in June, but was unstoppable on both sides of the track. He made a huge defensive effort, did not tremble before the one against one with LeBron or Doncic and was in almost all the divided balls. To this he added a brilliant offensive success that made him one of the great protagonists of the triumph of the Celtics.
Because if Jays Tatum illuminated the game with his talent and Jaylen Brown (31 points, six rebounds and three robberies) with his complete, elegant, effective and physical basketball, Horford replaced Porzingis, absent for the fifth game followed, with a fourteen points, nine bounces, four assists, three robberies and a cap in 37 minutes, with five of nine.
Alarm in the
LeBron James retired in the last minutes due to groin discomfort
Neither of the two franchises rejected the physical shock in the Garden TD and the first half was marked by balance. The Lakers began better, which reached eight points of advantage, but the Celtics soon put the duel in balance again.
LeBron assumed the responsibility and dominated with fourteen points, eight rebounds and seven assists in 19 minutes. Doncic contributed eleven, despite the fierce defense of the Celtics. The Slovenian personally suffered the physical intensity and received a strong blow to the face when he defended an entrance from Jaylen Brown.
Tatum took Boston with 22 points in a spectacular first half, in which he put four triples, and Brown contributed 16 to give Boston four suffering points of advantage to rest. The second period ended with exclamation points for Boston, with a mate with two hands of Tatum that would unleash Garden’s enthusiasm.
The fifteen minutes of interruption did not stop the inertia. The Celtics signed a third period that touched perfection, especially in its half defensive field, where Horford achieved two robberies and stopped some Lakers who barely put thirteen points, with five of 23 in shots.
James, dominant until that moment, did not go from the two points. Doncic achieved nine, but also committed two ball losses that Boston punished. Joe Mazzulla’s team achieved a 15-0 partial and won the third period 29-13 to take 22 advantage points in 80-58.
The Celtics had under control, but a partial of 16-2 of the Lakers in the fourth period, with triple and great LeBron tray, brought the Lakers to seven points with just over seven minutes to play. A Triple of Doncic, with the help of the board, reduced the margin to four points with 4.30 minutes in the stopwatch.
It was at that time when the Celtics responded. With Brown and Tatum in front, they recovered double advantage digits with 2.24 for playing in 105-95. LeBron noticed the bother in the groin and returned to the locker room in the last minutes, in which the Lakers accepted the defeat.
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