Celtics Vs Lakers: celtics vs lakers — 111-89 in Los Angeles
celtics vs lakers played out on Feb 22, 2026 at Crypto. com Arena in Los Angeles as the Boston Celtics beat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-89. Payton Pritchard scored 30 points and Jaylen Brown provided steady support in a game that pushed Boston’s case as a legitimate contender.
Celtics Vs Lakers: Game in Los Angeles
The crowd witnessed a star-studded afternoon and a Pat Riley statue dedication ceremony before the matchup, which the Celtics turned into a showcase of balance and poise. The Celtics suffocated the Lakers defensively for the final three quarters and relied upon the brilliance of Pritchard and the steadiness of Jaylen Brown for the runaway win. The Celtics had dismantled the Warriors three nights before, though Stephen Curry did not play in that earlier game. The Lakers arrived fully healthy, with LeBron James and Luka Doncic among those motivated by the pregame celebration of the 80-year-old Pat Riley, now the president of the Heat. Riley, a longtime Celtics nemesis, implored the Lakers in his address to the crowd to “kick some Boston [expletive], ” a line that filled the arena with theater and expectation.
Pritchard's halftime buzzer-beater and celebration
At halftime, Pritchard backpedaled, spun, pointed into the Crypto. com Arena crowd, furrowed his brow, bent his arms to flex and shouted at fans after drilling a long buzzer-beater to end the second quarter. That shot capped a late first-half run in which, after leading by 5, the Celtics outscored L. A. 8-3 over the final minute to extend the margin to 60-50. Pritchard had a hand in each of his team’s three baskets during that stretch: he attacked Austin Reaves in transition to create a three-for-two opportunity; after Jaylen Brown stopped a drive by Luka Dončić, Pritchard found Derrick White for a 3-pointer; Rui Hachimura briefly interrupted with a triple of his own; and on the final possession Brown jumped to find Pritchard well behind the arc, where Pritchard separated from Dončić with a stepback and buried the long 3 as the buzzer sounded. Coach Joe Mazzulla said, “I thought it was really good recognition by Payton, Derrick and JB. And I thought it was good execution that gave us a little momentum heading into the second half. ”
Fourth-quarter flare and late dagger
Midway through the fourth quarter Pritchard drained a stepback 3 over Austin Reaves and then turned toward Reggie Miller, who was announcing the game and is an analyst and a Hall of Famer; Pritchard did not reveal what he said. About a half-hour earlier he closed out a listless Lakers with a dagger 3-pointer and shouted in the direction of the broadcast booth. Pritchard’s line included six 3-pointers in what was described as one of his top performances in recent memory for its style shots; overall he finished with 30 points in the 111-89 Boston win. Three minutes into the fourth he changed directions three times on the dribble, put his shoulder into Jake LaRavia’s chest, spun and faded away for a 15-foot jumper. With five minutes left, he caught a pass near the rim, unclear in the provided context. Finally, Pritchard sent Lakers faithful into the dusk with a stepback that produced a 22-point lead with 3: 22 left; he turned around and unclear in the provided context.
Role change and bench impact
Pritchard has returned to the full-time sixth-man role and, as the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, surpassed 20 points for the sixth time in his last seven outings. He has come off the bench in each of those games after starting for the rest of the season. Pritchard has said the starter-versus-sixth-man designation does not matter to him; he said he did not care about the switch and even thought it made sense given the Celtics’ roster construction after the trade of Anfernee Simons. Boston’s bench had needed another ballhandler and playmaker, and using Pritchard as the sixth man helped balance the rotation. Pritchard said at the time of the move, “At the end of the day, it’s about, do you play starter minutes, do you finish games?” and added, “So it’s just about, when you get in, what do you do with your minutes?”
Pregame theater and coach reaction
Pat Riley’s plea and the statue dedication set the tone for a high-profile event; when told about Riley’s remark after the game, coach Joe Mazzulla lit up “as if he had just received a Red Ryder Carbine Action air rifle on Christmas morning. ” Mazzulla said, “He said that? Man, I wish I would have heard that. That’s fun. That’s awesome. Damn. ” He also cautioned against letting the performance be purely extrinsic motivation. Looking ahead, Mazzulla said the Celtics “have to find a way to do it at Phoenix, ” at Mortgage Matchup Center against a Phoenix team without Devin Booker, and added, “If it’s a short-term thing, if it’s an extrinsic thing that gets you there, it’s going to be very hard to turn that into an intrinsic one 48 hours from now. We have a bunch of competitors out there. They’re smart. They know what this means. But you have to have the gratitude and perspective of what the game is. You felt that [intensity] in the middle of the first quarter. Both teams were like in a brother-in-law game at the beginning and we took it to a different level. ” The “brother-in-law game” line was Mazzulla’s way of saying both teams were polite and cooperative until the moment demanded more intensity.
Photographer Luiza Moraes was credited for images from the game. The Celtics’ 111-89 win in Los Angeles reinforced a narrative that, for some observers, removes any remaining doubt about the team’s contender status.
Unclear in the provided context: the continuation of a truncated play description from the fourth quarter and the precise actions Pritchard completed after turning around with 3: 22 left.
