The Lakers (16-14) are home on Christmas Day to take on the Eastern-Conference-leading Celtics (22-6). The game tips off at 2:00 p.m. Pacific on ABC and ESPN.
Below are three things to know ahead of the matchup:
CHRISTMAS FACTS
Here’s all you need to know about the Lakers on Dec. 25!
- The Lakers lead all NBA teams in Christmas Day wins with 24.
- The Lakers and Celtics are meeting on X-Mas for the first time since 2008, which was L.A.’s first chance to avenge their 2008 Finals loss. The Lakers did indeed win, snapping a 19-game Boston winning streak, as Phil Jackson won his 1,000th game as a head coach. The Lakers improved to 24-5 (15-1 at home) with the victory, behind Kobe Bryant’s 27 points, nine boards and five assists, plus 20 points and five assists from Pau Gasol and a +17 on/off from Lamar Odom.
- LeBron James is the all-time leader in Christmas points with 460, and games played (17), while being tied with Dwyane Wade (10) in wins. He’s also 2nd in assists (119), 2nd in steals (26, three short of 1st), 2nd in 3’s made (three short of first), 8th in rebounds (he’d move to 6th with seven boards) and 9th in blocks (he’d move to 6th with two blocks).
- “It’s one of the best days the NBA has in our season,” said LeBron of playing on Christmas. “It’s always special, but more importantly it’s a day for being around family, being an opportunity for myself to be a giver, and give to my loved ones and people who supported me throughout my journey every single day since I began this, so it’s all about my family, my friends and my kids, my wife and my mom and so on. It’s a great for sports in general, especially for basketball too.”
- LeBron had a big Christmas game for Miami against the Lakers in 2010, going for 27 points, 11 boards and 10 assists in a 96-80 MIA win, as the first player in 40 years with a triple-double on X-Mas. LeBron also had 31 points and 13 boards in a come-from-behind Cavs victory over Golden State after Cleveland had beaten GSW in the Finals the previous summer.
- Other Christmas Day leaders: Bill Russell, 176 rebounds; Oscar Robertson, 145 assists; Shaq, 25 blocks.
- L.A.’s single-game Christmas highs include Jerry West’s 47 points in 1963, Wilt Chamberlain’s 22 rebounds in 1970, and Nick Van Exel’s 12 assists in 1996.
LEBRON OUTSCORES HIS AGE
For the first time this season, LeBron James outscored his age in Oklahoma City on Saturday evening, going for 40 points just a few days before he turns 39, on Dec. 30. He did much of his damage in crunch time, scoring 15 points in the 4th Q, on 5-of-7 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers, plus three free throws, capping an 8-for-8 night at the charity stripe.
Those points were quite necessary for the Lakers, as LeBron’s teammates managed just seven collectively in the final quarter amidst a furious attempt at a comeback from OKC.
“Last time we came here on a tough back-to-back, started out well but we just lost energy, lost steam,” said LeBron. “Us having a day in between our last game (helped), and this was one of the first must-win games of the season for us, and we understand how well this team had been playing, but we were able to play a really good game on the road to close the road trip out.”
Scoring 40 points on only 20 shots is the mark of a remarkably efficient performance. LeBron, who’s finished nearly everything at the rim this season, actually missed several shots in the paint, going 7 for 14. But he compensated by being nearly flawless with his jumper, hitting 7 of 8 FG’s outside the paint, including a perfect 5 of 5 from 3.
“It helped us get this win against a very good team in the Western Conference,” concluded LeBron.
LAKERS LINEUP SHIFT
Prior to the game at Oklahoma City, the Lakers made a rather significant change to the starting lineup, inserting Jarred Vanderbilt in place of D’Angelo Russell, effectively moving LeBron James to the PG slot on offense, and making the team huge defensively.
“We added a lot of length from the perimeter to our wings, all the way down to our center in AD, we have the ability to guard multiple positions, switch a lot of actions, but more importantly we’re able to clean glass,” explained LeBron. “I thought when they missed shots, especially in the second and third quarters, that gave us an opportunity to score on the other end.”
For one game, at least, it worked quite well. Not only did the starters play well, but the bench trio of Austin Reaves, Russell and Rui Hachimura was terrific, totaling 47 points, with Hachimura’s 21 on 8 of 14 FG’s leading the way.
LeBron and AD were able to handle much of the offensive load with the starters while Cam Reddish, Vanderbilt and Taurean Prince battled defensively and on the glass, with the bench trio of scorers, plus Jaxson Hayes in limited 1st half minutes, overwhelming OKC’s second-unit defense.
Adding Vanderbilt to the starting group will help against Boston as well, with the Celtics boasting difficult matchups from one through five. He, Reddish and Prince can all rotate between Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, with LeBron and AD both capable of defending Kristaps Porzingis, or moving their feet with one of the perimeter threats. How the coaches choose to initiate the matchups will be telling.
Meanwhile, Boston doesn’t have a great matchup for Davis. Will they trap like OKC did? Will they try to survive with Porzingis backing off an opting to late-contest on jumpers? We’ll see!