Plaschke: Lakers lose to Celtics, prove they need help now

Jayson Tatum drives past Lakers players.

Columnist

Dec. 14, 2022 4:30 AM PT

This should have been a column about a stirring comeback, against an ancient rival, fans leaping from their seats, a season teeming with hope.

Yet these are the Lakers, so it is not.

This should have been a celebration of a miracle Tuesday night in downtown Los Angeles, a 45-12 run against the hated Boston Celtics that erased a 20-point deficit and filled Crypto.com Arena with generations of howls.

Yet these are the short-handed, mismatched, makeshift Lakers, so it is not.

This is, instead, a column about an inspirational comeback ruined by a late collapse, the Lakers blowing their own 13-point lead by being outscored 17-4 in the final four minutes of regulation.

This is, also, a column about how the wreckage was capped by two missed free throws that led to an embarrassing five extra minutes.

This is, in essence, a column about how a team still searching for its identity may have just stumbled upon it, in the worst way imaginable, at the worst time possible.

In a 122-118 overtime loss to the NBA-best Celtics, the Lakers showed they are undisciplined enough to get blown out, talented enough to storm back, but shallow enough that they can’t finish.

In other words, they’re close, but they’re just not enough, and here’s hoping general manager Rob Pelinka rode this roller coaster and realized this is still a season worth saving.

Get these guys some help, now.

Trade for a couple of shooters, trade for some depth, do it now, so coach Darvin Ham doesn’t feel it is necessary to play the same five exhausted dudes the entire fourth quarter in their first game home after a six-game trip, leading to the collapse.

Get these guys some help so maybe the joyfully soaring players in that fourth-quarter surge don’t trudge into the night in despair.

Anthony Davis was brilliant with 37 points and 12 rebounds, but he played the entire second half and overtime, and eventually lost his legs and missed two free throws with 28 seconds left that could have clinched it. Afterward he sat despondently in front of his locker with his head in his hands in a pose that spoke for a season.

“Make two free throws, go up four, different ballgame,” Davis said softly. “To me, the rest doesn’t matter. Had a chance to ice the game and missed both.”

Then there was LeBron James, who was everywhere with 33 points, including 13 in that fourth quarter, but he was out of gas during overtime and scored just once.

When he was asked if this close loss said anything about his team, he snarled.

“Nothing. That we lost,” he said. “You talking to the wrong guy talking about an ‘almost win.’”

Anthony Davis and LeBron James reach out their hands in celebration.

It was, though, truly an almost win, with the Lakers surging yet again to score the first four points in overtime and appearing strong enough to steal a victory matched only by the recent triumph in Milwaukee.

But then they missed five straight shots, five selfish shots, three by Russell Westbrook, all of them by players who clearly were wiped out.

The Celtics, led by legitimate MVP candidate Jayson Tatum and smooth sidekick Jaylen Brown, capitalized on the dissolving Lakers by calmly scoring the next dozen points to clinch it.

This was, incidentally, the same Celtics team that had lost its last two games and was playing the second game of a back-to-back after losing to the Clippers on Monday night. They were at the end of a 10-day trip. They were the team that should have been most drained.

But unlike the Lakers, the Celtics have more than two players.

While Ham played the same five guys in that fourth quarter — Davis, James, Westbrook, Austin Reaves and Troy Brown Jr. — Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla played eight. And they still were missing injured starters Al Horford and Robert Williams.

The Celtics are loaded, the Lakers are not, and this game was decided by that difference.

Ham, a rookie coach, blamed himself for not efficiently using his timeouts to give his weary group more rest.

“I could have done a better job in certain instances in using my timeouts quicker … that falls on me,” he said. “Gotta get better in that regard.”

However, he did not apologize for ignoring his bench, and who can blame him? What was he going to do, put ineffective Patrick Beverley or inconsistent Dennis Schroder in the game? Would you trust Lonnie Walker IV in that situation? Could you really let Kendrick Nunn or Thomas Bryant see the court in crunch time?

“This lineup that I had … was working,” Ham said. “It got us back into the game, it got us the lead and a commanding lead down the stretch. … At the end of the day, you just got to go with your gut, man, and live with the results.”

Or, well, lose with the results. Which is what will keep happening if Ham isn’t given more options.

On the videoboard Tuesday, the “Fan of the Game” was a guy dressed like Kurt Rambis who tussled with a guy dressed like Kevin McHale. And, yes, the Lakers-Celtics rivalry will last forever. But in terms of roster construction, these two storied enemies no longer feel like they’re even in the same league.

Before tipoff, because of Boston’s dominance thus far, Ham said this was a report-card game.

“Yeah. Definitely,” he said. “It gives us another chance to see if we can not only match but exceed that competition level and really let it be known that what we’re doing here is effective, and it’s long-lasting and it’s going to get stronger as the season gets longer.”

Well, it turns out, sigh, they didn’t exceed the competition, and what they’re doing here is not effective, not long-lasting, and not getting stronger. They are 11-16 and running in circles.

Afterward, as he has done so many times this season, Ham used a clear metaphor to claim the strength that will be forged by this journey.

“One of our assistant coaches from our G League team gave me a great quote,” Ham said. “He said, ‘You never become a good sailor in smooth waters.’ It always has to be you guiding the ship through storm after storm after storm. And then that’s when you really show your true mettle as a credible, high-level sailor.”

Which brings this column back to Pelinka.

Isn’t it finally time for that life preserver?