BOSTON >> If they had to live with the Celtics hanging one more championship banner than the 16 that dangle above Staples Center, the Lakers, at least, could claim the most regular season wins in NBA history.
On Friday, however, four years of losing caught up to the Lakers and the Celtics did, too.
In a serendipitous twist of scheduling, the fierce rivals met for the 284th time in the regular season deadlocked for the most wins in NBA history. The Celtics held off the Lakers fourth-quarter push to earn their 3,253rd win 113-107, and relegate the Lakers to No. 2 on the all-time list.
Isaiah Thomas, the 5-foot-9 dynamo who openly expressed a desire to sign with the Lakers as a free agent in 2014, popped off for a game-high 38 points.
“It has nothing to do with height,” Larry Nance Jr. said. “He is one of the best players in the league, period.”
Lou Williams scored 21 points for the Lakers, while Larry Nance Jr. tied his career high with 18 points and added a game-high 11 rebounds.
D’Angelo Russell posted his third straight strong statistical game, after missing three with leg injuries, finishing with 20 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds in 32 minutes.
Both teams entered Friday’s game with 3,252 wins, a statistical anomaly Luke Walton dismissed as a simple quirk.
“If they lose the next game we win, we’re having the same talk again,” he said. “It’s definitely crazy it’s happening on a night that we’re playing, but in the big picture it doesn’t mean that much.”
However, the passing of that particular torch represents the harsh truth of where the Lakers are in their history as opposed to their fiercest rival. Friday’s loss meant that for the first time since the end of the 2000-01 season, the Lakers did not at least share the lead in all-time victories.
The Lakers (17-36) have won just 82 games over the past three-plus seasons, including the painful final seasons of Kobe Bryant’s career, while the Celtics (32-18) rebuilt quickly after dumping Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Boston has won 145 games in that same span, allowing them to close the gap.
While the Lakers continue to search for their footing in the Western Conference and find players who will lead them back to relevance, the Celtics rebuilt smartly around a collection of players like two-time All-Star Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder. Last summer, they lured All-NBA center Al Horford in free agency.
The chasm between teams that throughout history have always been so close was on full display Friday. The Celtics bottomed out in 2013-15 with 25 wins, the year Mike D’Antoni’s Lakers set a franchise record with 55 losses. While the Celtics sold off Garnett and Pierce for a haul of draft picks, the Lakers paid Bryant a crippling $48.5 million to end his career in L.A.
Three years later, the Celtics have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. The Lakers are second-worst in the West.
Early on, it looked like the Lakers might hold on to their claim to all-time wins for one more night. They made seven of their first 10 3-pointers and behind bright contributions from Nick Young and D’Angelo Russell, the Lakers led 30-29 after the first quarter.
Soon, however, their proneness for cold spells and ill-timed errors took over.
“As a team I thought we got selfish and we stopped moving the ball,” Walton said. “We stopped trusting each other.”
They made just eight shots in the second quarter, falling behind 62-51 at halftime. On one particular revealing possession, the Lakers missed four shots in 14 seconds.
They kept grabbing offensive rebounds, only to waste the additional opportunities they’d earned. Jordan Clarkson missed a jumper, Russell hit the rim on a 3, Tarik Black’s hook shot was long and Clarkson missed a look at a 3.
It was almost impressive. And then they pulled off nearly an identical feat in the fourth quarter, missing four 3-pointers in 22 seconds without Boston ever gaining possession.
“We’ve got to get better at putting whole games together,” Walton said. “I thought we were great to start the game, and then it kind of just stalled out there in the second and then I thought we were good again in the second half.”
Boston coach Brad Stevens was quick to point out before Friday’s game that while the Celtics were on the cusp of surpassing the Lakers wins mark, the Lakers wouldn’t be far behind.
“I think it’s a unique enough rivalry that 100 years from now it will probably be tied again,” Stevens said.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
