As part of the NBA’s traditional Christmas Day slate, the Los Angeles Lakers travelled home for another pivotal game against the Boston Celtics following their decisive victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In the most recent iteration of the NBA’s most famous rivalry, the Lakers were defeated 126-115 by the Celtics, who ultimately emerged victorious.

The Lakers called a short timeout as the Celtics were up 12-0 after a pair of buckets and a triple from Jaylen Brown, a deep basket from Jrue Holiday, and a putback from Kristaps Porzingis.

After the timeout, Cam Reddish made a crucial 3-pointer to put the Lakers up. However, the Celtics were going to the hoop with ease, scoring, or drawing fouls to increase their advantage to 25-10 early on, with the Lakers offering no defensive resistance.

Fortunately for the Lakers, Anthony Davis scored 13 points in the first quarter and the Celtics had no response for him. At some point, Boston began to miss shots, which allowed Los Angeles to close the first quarter’s lead to 32-23.

While Payton Pritchard scored back-to-back three-pointers for Boston, Taurean Prince scorched the floor to start the second quarter with five points in a row.

Davis continued to attack despite Porzingis’ early foul trouble, and he even made a rare triple to reduce the lead to just three points at 47–44.

Rui Hachimura joined in the action with two dunks, but Porzingis answered with a huge three-pointer to give the Celtics the advantage again.

Near the end of the quarter, James and Brown crossed paths, and the play left them both shaken. Though the Lakers entered the locker room trailing by just 58-57, the approaching intermission provided them a little more time to rally.

In the third quarter, LeBron’s basket gave the Lakers their first lead of the day. After that, Prince hit another three, but Holiday answered with one of his own, and Brown’s huge slam forced a Lakers timeout.

After that, Porzingis took off, dominating the Lakers on both ends until Davis dunk on him on a transition. The Lakers enjoyed a solid run of play as a result, with Austin Reaves contributing from deep.

Sadly, though, the Celtics heated up towards the end of the third quarter, and even though Davis kept hammering the Lakers inside, the Lakers were down 99-90 heading into the fourth.

In the initial part of the fourth quarter, the Lakers were unable to cut into their disadvantage. With six minutes remaining, the Celtics maintained a lead of roughly ten points because to their ability to convert defence into transition offence.

Davis added another triple to further fulfil his obligation. But because James was having trouble scoring, the Lakers were unable to mount a comeback because they were also having trouble getting stops.