Post by cole on Feb 23, 2020 11:38:53 GMT -5
Celtics will be without Kemba again, frustratingly. Lakers will be gunning for revenge.
Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers: A very motivated Lakers team, Kemba Walker’s inevitable knee issue, & pregame notes
AP Photo/Charles Krupa
By John Karalis |
LOS ANGELES - The last time the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers met was not pretty for the purple and gold. Boston rattled off a 139-107 win that triggered a stretch of 12 wins in 14 tries.
No team wants to lose that badly, but LeBron James, as a Laker, losing by 32 in Boston to the Celtics carries a little extra weight.
There’s going to be a little extra juice in this one.
“I would say we’re a very motivated team,” Frank Vogel said before the game. “It’s not a team where we’re going to lose focus because we lost so badly in Boston, but I know there is an element of hey, we got embarrassed out there. Let’s bring it this game and make sure we take the fight to them.”
The Celtics saw first-hand what happens in those situation because they remember that the Lakers came out hot in that January 20 matchup.
“First two minutes of that game I thought we were gonna be beat by 40, then we settled down and made some plays,” Stevens said of the game, which featured an 8-0 opening run by the Lakers. “We were desperate, coming off a three-game losing streak, and I thought we played really well after that point. This is a big time team, and if you shoot yourself in the foot against them, you have no chance.”
The Sunday afternoon start is going to bring out a lot of fans. Demand for tickets here has been through the roof, and Lakers fans are going to make sure the Celtics feel their presence. This game is seen as a potential NBA Finals preview, so the atmosphere here could be pretty high, no mater if Stevens disagrees.
“I don’t know if it bumped up, it’s been pretty good in the past. But certainly it’s great when both teams are good,” he said. “We have a lot of respect for them – their players and coaches and everybody else. It’s a fun game to be a part of. They’re really good and you know you’ll have to play really well possession to possession.”
The Lakers will have Anthony Davis available. He has a bruised calf but he’s ready to play. Kemba Walker, however, is not. Vogel still expects Boston’s best.
“Well they’re a really good team. They’ve got a lot of perimeter fire power, they’ve got role-playing bigs that perform at a high level and they’re very well tied together on the defensive end,” he said. “They’ve got great containment ability defensively and great hands, so that allows them to force deflections, get out in transition, which is one of the things that hurt us in Boston. And, they’re an excellent team even without Kemba Walker.”
However it plays out, there’s no doubt that Celtics-Lakers means a lot to everyone involved.
“It’s special. Told our guys a couple of years ago, raise your hand if as a kid somebody would have told you you get to sit on the end of the bench in a Lakers-Celtics game, and everybody raised their hand,” Stevens said. “Everybody dreamed of that. Sometimes when you get there you get antsy to play a little more or have a bigger role or whatever the case may be. But you just have to pinch yourselves sometimes that you’re here.”
Other pregame notes
- Speaking of Walker, Brad Stevens says Walker is progressing as he tries to strengthen his sore left knee.
“I think he’s getting better day by day,” Stevens said. “He did a lot in the weight room and workout room yesterday and we talked about it a little bit. I don’t know how long it’s going to be but right now we’re really focusing on him feeling great and strengthening it.”
Stevens says it’s not a long-term thing, but he isn’t sure how the long the strengthen the knee would take.
“That would be another question for him and our medical staff,” he said. “We need him to feel great and the swelling obviously was something that was new coming out of the break, so we need to make sure he feels great as we head to the stretch run here.”
Walker wants nothing more than to be on the floor. Stevens says he’s not going to step in and try to save Walker from himself.
“I don’t get into it. It’s the medical staff and him,” he said. “If they tell me he can play, he plays. Otherwise we trust them and he does too and we’re moving on from there.”
- Stevens was asked about Jayson Tatum’s personality.
“He’s very quiet, but he’s got a good sheepish sarcasm to him. But he’s got a great emotional intelligence as I’ve said many times. He can operate in any environment and when things get crazy out on the court, he has a great way about him and a very calm way about him. He doesn’t change that much when he’s off the court. I’m sure Frank (Vogel) saw that then and we’ve been lucky that he’s been able to carry that on and off the floor.”
- The Kobe & Gigi Bryant memorial is tomorrow here at Staples Center, and the Lakers are trying to compartmentalize the emotions of a big game and tomorrow’s tribute.
“My mind isn’t on tomorrow, to be honest with you,” Vogel said. “We know it’s going to be hard to be in there and hearing all that stuff again, but it’s going to feel good as well. We’re going to honor Kobe and Gigi’s life the right way and it’s something that we’re all looking forward to, but understanding that it’s going to be hard.”
