Entering Friday night's rivalry game, the Boston Celtics always expected to beat the Los Angeles Lakers, but a 25-point lead at halftime told the story of exactly how far apart the Lakers and Celtics are on the court.
When the final buzzer mercifully rang out after 48 long, painful minutes, the Celtics collected their 40th win of the season. In sharp contract, the Lakers counted their 43rd defeat of a season that continues to spiral down the toilet.
Friday's rivalry game was so unbelievably noncompetitive that referring to it as a rivalry seemed to cheapen the occasion. Isaiah Thomas, who is considered the premier fourth quarter scorer in the NBA, did not even take the court in the final quarter due to the lopsided nature of the score. Thomas finished with 18 points and eight assists in 25 minutes.
Early in the third quarter, the Celtics hit their apex, which brought out cheers from the surprisingly large segment of fans dressed in green and supporting the visiting team. At one stage, The Celtics tasted the 31-point lead when Thomas threw an alley-oop in transition off the backboard.
Lakers coach Luke Walton spoke about the embarrassing basket and shared his thoughts when it happened.
"A little bit of anger, a little bit of frustration because there's teams showboating on our home court." Walton said, pointing to the fact that not getting back in transition meant the players weren't putting forth the effort.
As such, Walton immediately pulled his starters, and turned to Jordan Clarkson and the bench.
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Off the backboard with a 29-point lead? #TheDisrespect pic.twitter.com/vub6tkLTvy — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 4, 2017
Clarkson's scoring and the second unit's energetic defensive effort, highlighted by 10-day contractee David Nwaba fighting over screens, brought the Lakers within 13 points with 11 minutes remaining in the ball game.
However, a couple of turnovers, and Boston quickly responded with a run of its own. The result of the game was no longer in doubt by the time the final six-minute mark came about. The Boston fans began to cheer louder and louder as the Lakers' fans began to clear out.
Clarkson evetually finished the game with 20 points to lead all scorers on the night. When the final buzzer sounded, the score board read, "Celtics 115, Lakers 95."
