BOSTON -- Following the Los Angeles Lakers' worst loss of the season and one of the worst defeats in the history of their rivalry with the Boston Celtics, LeBron James saw no use in sugarcoating it.
"I mean, listen, it was just a good, old-fashioned butt whooping," James said after L.A.'s 139-107 loss. "That's all. They beat us in all facets of the game: outside, interior, points off turnovers, offensive rebounds. So it's the main ingredients in the L."It was only the seventh instance in the history of the Lakers-Celtics regular-season rivalry in which the margin of victory was 30 or more points, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. It was the largest regular-season win by either team against the other in more than 50 years; the Lakers beat the Celtics by 35 on March 16, 1969.
"I'm pretty sure they executed their game plan. And we didn't. It's pretty simple," said Lakers guard Rajon Rondo, who has experience on both sides of this rivalry. "A lot of things they were better with, we could have done better tonight as far as taking care of the ball, executing offensively. Defensively, we should have talked a lot more. But like I said, I don't want to critique too much without watching film. But it was an ugly loss for us."
In what has, to this point, been the worst Blazers season in recent memory, it's ironic that it has arguably been Damian Lillard's best. Entering Monday, Lillard was averaging career highs in both points (27.1) and assists (7.6) per game, field-goal percentage (44.6) and effective field-goal percentage (53.5), while also getting to the free-throw line a career high 7.6 times per game.
Those numbers went up considerably after Monday.
In Portland's 129-124 overtime victory over the visiting Warriors, Lillard dropped a career-high 61 points on 17-of-37 shooting, including 11 of 20 from three and a perfect 16 for 16 from the line. He added 10 rebounds and seven assists for good measure, and he committed just two turnovers. As we've all come to take for granted, he hit a barrage of absurdly difficult 3-pointers with the game in the balance -- including these two beauties to tie the score in the waning seconds of regulation, and then again in the final minute of overtime.
SportsCenter ✔@SportsCenterCareer-high 11 threes from Dame tonight.
None were more clutch than these two
Per ESPN, only six players in NBA history have logged two or more 60-point games in their career. Lillard has done it twice this season. The other came in a loss to Brooklyn on Nov. 8. It tells you what Lillard is up against this season that he had to score 121 combined points for the Blazers to barely beat the Warriors and lose to the Nets.
Portland has been decimated by injuries. Jusuf Nurkic has been out all season. Zach Collins has played in just three games. Rodney Hood went down for the season on Dec. 6. Now Skal Labissiere is on the shelf. The Blazers just traded Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver to the Kings for Trevor Ariza. It's a clear attempt to acquire a wing capable of elite defensive matchups, though it's debatable whether Ariza can still be that guy in a potential playoff series against, say, Kawhi Leonard.
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