It was an ugly evening for the Boston Celtics at Crypto.com arena on Thursday. They got geared up to play the Los Angeles Lakers on the second night of a back-to-back, only to get stomped by their long-time rivals. Los Angeles earned a dominant 117-96 win over the defending champs, sending Boston packing.
Kristaps Porzingis was the only Celtic who managed to churn out an efficient evening on high volume. Jaylen Brown was on his way there, but his efficiency waned as the game went on. Still, he was one of the few consistent sources of Celtics offense on Wednesday.
And he wasn’t even at full strength.
During the Celtics’ overtime win over the LA Clippers on Wednesday, Brown tweaked his ankle—the same ankle he injured in Boston’s recent loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Jaylen Brown provides ankle injury update after Celtics vs. Lakers
After the loss to the Lakers, Brown provided a small update on his injury, noting that he didn’t feel 100% on Thursday night.
“It was alright — I’m still trying to get my burst, my explosion back,” Brown said via Noa Dalzell of SB Nation. “Didn’t finish a lot of baskets around the rim because it’s messing with me a little bit, but it will get there.”
That’s not an excuse in Brown’s eyes, though.
“I missed a lot of baskets around the rim,” Brown said. “My team needs me to make those. I gotta be able to produce for my team.”
Brown finished the game with 17 points, eight rebounds, and three assists while shooting 7-of-19 from the field and 3-of-9 from beyond the three-point arc. However, he shot 3-of-5 and 2-of-3 in the first quarter.
The Celtics struggled shooting the ball all night, leaving Brown and Porzingis to carry the load in the scoring department. And once their isolation scoring dried up, there was nothing left.
Boston’s defense wasn’t where it needed to be, either. They failed to apply adequate defensive pressure, allowing the Lakers to get to wherever they wanted on the floor.
Brown’s ankle issue will certainly be something to monitor moving forward, but in the meantime, the Celtics have bigger fish to fry.
Their recent stretch of .500 play is not living up to the high standards set for them at the beginning of the season, and while they are still in second place in the Eastern Conference, things can change fast.
Needless to say, Thursday night was not a step in the right direction. Quite the opposite, in fact.