The Boston Celtics (9-2) host the Los Angeles Lakers (5-5) looking to win their 10th straight game after starting the season with two straight defeats.
Gordon Hayward going down with an injury in the opening game of the season against the Cleveland Cavaliers shook the Celtics to the core and caused them to lose back-to-back games, but after the dust settled down and the coaches adjusted the strategy the Celtics started winning, and they haven’t stopped yet.
The Lakers enter tonight’s game having picked up some momentum after winning three of their last four and having beaten teams like the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons and most recently the Memphis Grizzlies.
They narrowly lost a heartbreaker to the Portland Trail Blazers 113-110 on a last-second shot by Damian Lillard, but they have been picking up some good wins this season to keep this young core of players motivated.
The team has been playing very good defense lately and they have continued to rank in the lower half of the top-10 in defensive efficiency all season long, which is helping them stay close late in the games.
They have improved a lot 0n their own end of the floor, which helps them compete against teams that on paper are more talented than them and that’s remarkable for a team that consist mostly of young players that don’t have a ton of NBA experience.
The Lakers also have four starters that are new to the team because they are either rookies or arrived this season via trade or free agency. The only starter from last season is Brandon Ingram, but he’s just learning to play with this new group players.
Despite all this, they’re going out there, even in the matches that they’re losing, and are staying pretty close throughout the entire ballgame, like the thriller they lost against Portland on the road.
But let’s be clear on something, this Laker team is not built to win right now. Although the Lakers are playing better than expected the Celtics should without much effort improve to 10-2 because the Lakers are a work in progress.
Even though they are playing hard and fast breaking, the Lakers can’t shoot 3’s right now (particularly Lonzo Ball) so smarter and more talented teams in the league, like the Celtics, will figure them out and find a way to neutralize their strengths.
Defensively the Lakers have a huge challenge in front of them as they must deal with Kyrie Irving; add on the long-range skills of a Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and the Celtics have just too many options for the Lakers to guard and watch out for.
The Celtics should be fine at home and win by at least 10 points even though Al Horford (concussion-like symptoms) will miss the game.
