Celtics beat Lakers 87-78 to close out Summer League regular season

   

In the newest iteration of the Celtics vs Lakers rivalry, this Summer League matchup would go in Boston’s favor in a 87-78 victory.

After getting ejected from Game 3 on Monday, Jordan Walsh came back with an excellent performance tonight scoring a team high 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals on 6-11 shooting from the field and 2-4 shooting from three.

Boston Celtics vs Los Angeles Lakers Dec 25, 2023 Game Summary | NBA.com

The last two games have been some of the best we’ve seen from Walsh as he really started to settle in which is a great sign for the Celtics moving forward. He was not only making the right play but also being able to shoot the ball efficiently is a huge plus for his future with Boston. One of his highlight plays included a dunk off of a jump ball that really got the Celtics offense going in the third quarter and put the finishing touches on the game with a monster windmill dunk coming off an inbound pass from Kenneth Lofton Jr.

After a tough game against Miami, Hugo Gonzalez was able to bounce back with a good performance as he finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds on 4-11 shooting from the field and 2-4 shooting from three. Gonzalez was showing his play making off early as he had a nice play where he cut from the corner, received the ball, and immediately dumped it off to Miles Norris for a dunk.

 

His scoring was in full effect as well, scoring 10 of his points in the first half drilling a couple corner threes and looking incredibly comfortable. Gonzalez’s three ball was seen as a weakness going into the Draft so it was encouraging to see him look comfortable.

Baylor Scheierman was shooting 31% from the field and 21% from three over the course of Summer League so far and continued to struggle in this game as he finished with 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists on 2-14 shooting from the field and 2-11 shooting from beyond the arc.

Although his shooting was off, Scheierman was still playing at a high level offensively when it came to facilitating and playing solid defense. Hopefully by the preseason he will find his shot as he has a big opportunity to get a legitimate spot in the Celtics rotation this year.

Boston was without Charles Bassey in this matchup who was only signed for the first 3 games of Summer League due to other summer commitments. Bassey averaged 15.3 PPG and 11 REB on 70% in his time with the Celtics. This opened up a spot for Amari Williams in the starting lineup and he was able to take advantage with 8 points and 6 rebounds on 3-10 shooting from the field in 20 minutes.

Kenneth Lofton Jr also capitalized off of Bassey’s departure as he had a big second half of this game finishing with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals on 5-8 shooting from the field and 2-4 shooting from three.

Miles Norris was the other standout player tonight with 11 points on 5-11 shooting from the field. Norris was explosive on the offensive end tonight including a big slam dunk in the second half coming off of a nice pass from Max Shulga.

This win ends the Celtics run in the 2025 Las Vegas Summer League with a final record of 3-1.