Jayson Tatum had 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists to help the Boston Celtics extend their winning streak to four games by beating the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 111-101 on Saturday night.
It was Tatum's fourth game with at least 40 points this season. He was 12 of 28 from the field and played 45 minutes.
Jaylen Brown added 31 points and six rebounds for the Celtics, who also received 14 points and nine rebounds from Al Horford.
Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 34 points and eight rebounds. He made 5 of 10 3-point attempts.
LeBron James had 22 points and 14 rebounds, but he missed each of his six shots from behind the 3-point line. James left the game with a groin strain in the fourth quarter and did not return. Austin Reaves (16 points) was the only other Laker who scored in double figures.
"Not much concern," James said after the game. "Obviously we'll go day-to-day and look at it each day and see if it gets better and then take the proper measures and see what we need to do moving forward."
The loss ended the Lakers' eight-game winning streak. Los Angeles is 18-4 in its last 22 games.
Los Angeles trailed by 22 points in the second half but was within four points after two Doncic free throws made it 96-92 with 5:06 to play. The Lakers failed to get any closer, however, and Boston was able to pull away after that.
Boston's Kristaps Porzingis (illness) missed his fifth straight game. Porzingis led the Celtics with 22 points in a 117-96 loss to the host Lakers on Jan. 23.
It was 33-33 after one quarter on Saturday, but the Celtics had a 58-54 halftime lead. Tatum led all scorers in the first half with 22 points.
The Celtics scored 19 of the first 21 points in the third quarter and led 77-56 after a Jrue Holiday basket capped a 15-0 run with 5:50 left in the third. The Lakers' first field goal in the third came with 5:28 remaining in the quarter. Boston had an 87-67 advantage entering the fourth.
--Field Level Media
L.A. Lakers | Boston | |
Luka Doncic 34 | Scoring | Jayson Tatum 40 |
LeBron James 9 | Assists | Jayson Tatum 8 |
LeBron James 14 | Rebounds | Jayson Tatum 12 |
Luka Doncic 7 | Free Throws Made | Jayson Tatum 10 |
Jarred Vanderbilt 2 | Steals | Jaylen Brown 3 |
Dalton Knecht 1 | Blocks | Payton Pritchard 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
L.A. Lakers | 101 | 44.8 | 14-40 | 9-14 | 18 | 45 | 1 | 6 | 14 |
Boston | 111 | 47.6 | 13-38 | 18-25 | 24 | 43 | 5 | 9 | 10 |