One night later, Boston players all but shrugged their shoulders after falling to the Lakers 117-96 on the second leg of a back-to-back. Kristaps Porziņģis, who has been critical of the Celtics after their worst games recently, sounded ready to dump the latest poor result into the nearest trash can and forget about it for good.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 117-113 in overtime. Both teams were shorthanded in this contest and Los Angeles nearly pulled off a shocking win.

The Celtics had to endure a hard-fought game against the Clippers and managed to come up with a 117-113 victory thanks to their superstar duo.

Boston has been inconsistent for weeks — a stark difference from last season’s joyride — but is still among the best defending NBA champions of this century.

The Celtics have lost six of their 11 home games during the stretch, after losing four at home all of last season. That includes a fourth-quarter collapse against the Bulls, a blowout loss to the lowly 76ers on Christmas Day, and another blown lead leading overtime loss to the Hawks.

Anthony Davis scored 24 points, Austin Reaves added 23 and the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 117-96 victory over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

The Celtics' roster has failed to meet expectations in the past month and Thursday’s performance against the Lakers was an example of a team that’s sputtering despite its depth.

Also, after not losing a single game by double digits from the start of the season through the end of December, the Celtics have since suffered defeats of 13, 13, 17 and 21 points, all in their last 10 games. Those also were the only games this season in which Boston failed to score 100 points.

Following the LA Lakers' blowout win against the Boston Celtics on Thursday, analysts discussed the loss from the reigning champ's perspective.

Celtics star Jaylen Brown felt like his team's lack of rest played a role in their blowout loss at the hands of the rival Lakers.

The faithful green masses, including a young boy in a full leprechaun getup, roared their approval Wednesday when Jayson Tatum rushed back in transition to swat a