BOSTON — Once the Lakers’ injury report for Friday night was released, revealing that they would be without Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Marcus Smart against the Boston Celtics on the second night of a back-to-back set, the onus was once again implicity on Austin Reaves to raise his play to an even higher level.
And after a slow start, Reaves eventually did, leading the Lakers with 36 points and eight assists. But it wasn’t nearly enough to make up for the overall struggles of the Lakers, who fell to the Celtics, 126-105, at TD Garden one night after beating the Toronto Raptors.
The loss dropped the Lakers to 16-6 for the season and 1-1 on a trip that ends Sunday night against the Philadelphia 76ers – a game that could see Doncic return to the lineup.
Jaylen Brown had 30 points and eight assists to lead the Celtics, who led by as many as 29 points during the second quarter of a wire-to-wire win.
Boston knocked down a season-high 24 3-pointers (on 45 attempts), with Derrick White (19 points, six assists) leading the way with five 3s.
Jordan Walsh (17 points, four rebounds) and Sam Hauser (12 points) both knocked down four 3-pointers, while Payton Pritchard (15 points, six assists) and Brown each knocked down three apiece to help the Celtics get off to their hot start.
Boston led by 22 (39-17) after the first quarter, with Walsh’s defensive pressure impacting Reaves, who missed his first five shot attempts as the Lakers shot 6 for 26 (23.1%) from the field in the period.
The Celtics carried a 69-46 lead into halftime.
Reaves scored 16 of his points in the third, a quarter the Lakers won 36-28 to cut their deficit to 97-82 entering the fourth.
But the Celtics opened the final quarter with a 9-0 run on 3-pointers from Walsh, White and Hauser, to extend their lead to 106-82.
The Lakers didn’t get any closer than 18 the rest of the night.
Gabe Vincent had 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting for the Lakers, while two-way guard Nick Smith Jr. and starting forward Rui Hachimura both scored 13 points.
More to come on this story.