Even wearing vintage 1970’s short shorts couldn’t get the Los Angeles Lakers past the surging Boston Celtics as the Green improved to an incredible 26-3 with a 110-91 whipping of the Lakers in front of 18,997 at the Staples Center.
Both teams wore vintage throwback uni’s on Sunday night but the Lakers took it to the extreme before changing into baggy shorts at halftime. Neither style of short though was the answer for the Celtics as Paul Pierce scored 33 points and Kevin Garnett had 22 points, 12 boards and 6 assists. Even the Brothers Allen chipped in with Ray knocking in 19 and Tony adding 16 in leading the Bostonians to their 6th straight win. The win also kept Lakers coach Phil Jackson from passing Boston legend Red Auerbach on the all-time win list. Both are tied for seventh with 938 victories.
The Lakers were led by Kobe Bryant who had 22 points, Lamar Odom had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Derek Fisher tallied 11 points as they had their four game win streak snapped and dropped to 19-11 on the year.
The game had an old-time rivalry feel to it even beyond the throwbacks as the game got physical with several confrontations including 1 flagrant foul on Lamar Odom who practically tackled Ray Allen and 6 technical fouls – 3 on each squad – for the chippy play.
The Celtics swept the four game western road trip that was played in five days with two sets of back-to-back games in Sacramento, Seattle, Utah and Los Angeles. Granted it wasn’t Phoenix, Dallas and San Antonio but this was an amazing trip.
Celtics guard Rajon Rondo did not play due to tightness in his hamstring. It is unknown if he will be able to play on Wednesday at home against the Houston Rockets.
