The Boston Celtics faced the defending World Champion Los Angeles Lakers Saturday night in Boston, while the Boston Bruins looked to extend a four game win streak on the road in Washington against the Capitals.
At TD Garden in Boston, Lebron James made a pair of three-pointers late that ended up the difference as the Lakers beat the Celtics 96-95.
Los Angeles (15-6) broke a two game losing streak with the win, after road losses to Philadelphia and Detroit. The Lakers opened up a 10 point lead in the second quarter before the Celtics pulled within three at the half. Boston (10-8) took their first lead since the first quarter when Jaylen Brown knocked down a three-pointer early in the third. An 8-0 run by the hosts gave them their biggest advantage of the night at 78-70. The visitors scored the first nine points of the final quarter to capture the lead once again. James made two huge three-pointers on back to back possessions 45 seconds apart at the 5:25 and 4:40 mark, and Los Angeles led 96-89 with 1:40 left. Two baskets from Jayson Tatum helped cut that deficit to just one with 32.8 seconds left, and Kemba Walker then got a steal on the Lakers Anthony Davis and had a driving attempt at the rim in the closing seconds that was no good and a tip from Daniel Theis didn’t go either as time expired.
Tatum had 30 points and nine rebounds in the loss, while Brown had 28. Theis had 14 points and seven rebounds, while Robert Williams III also added 10 points and seven boards. Marcus Smart left the game in the third quarter and didn’t return with a left calf strain and will undergo an MRI on Sunday. Davis had 27 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Lakers, while James had 21, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Boston begins a five game road trip in Golden State on Tuesday night at 10 p.m.
At Capital One Arena in Washington, Alex Ovechkin scored 28 seconds into overtime to thwart a possible comeback win by the visiting Bruins for a 4-3 Capitals victory.
Nicklas Backstrom, Trevor van Reimsdyk, and Richard Panik all scored to stake Washington (6-0-3) to a three goal lead halfway through the game. Nick Ritchie scored on the powerplay at 17:32 of the second to get Boston on the board, and Brad Marchand then scored off a nice feed from Charlie McAvoy 6:03 into the third to cut the margin to just a goal. The Bruins would pull goalie Tuuka Rask late, and McAvoy found a loose puck in the slot on a rebound to tie the game with 58 seconds left. Ovechkin and the Capitals never let Boston have the puck in the extra session, as Ovi took a drop pass from Backstrom and fired one in from the high slot to end it.
Patrice Bergeron had three assists in the loss, and McAvoy had one goal and one assist. Rask made 19 saves as the Bruins have their four game win streak snapped, but do extend to five straight games with a point going to 5-1-2 on the season. Backstrom had a goal and two assists in the win, while Ovechkin had the game winning goal and an assist as well. Vitek Vanecek made 40 saves in net. The Bruins and Capitals finish off their two game mini series on Monday in Washington at 7 p.m.
