Player Grades: Lakers vs. Celtics

Grading every Lakers player’s performance from the team’s 117-96 win over the Celtics

In the words of the great James Worthy, the Lakers went out and got that Celtics a-- and boy did it feel good. Nothing fixes the vibes more than absolutely blowing out your rival and for the best win of the season.

The way the Lakers did it was very encouraging, too. This wasn’t just some crazy hot-shooting night they rode to a win that likely couldn't be replicated. Instead, this was a really strong, locked in defensive performance.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a strong shooting night, but it was a largely replicable one. Only Gabe Vincent, who hit four 3-pointers, had an extraordinarily good game.

Mix all that together and you get a game where the Lakers had their biggest win of the season and Bronny James got to play.

Making this even sweeter was the fact the Celtics rested three of their key players on Wednesday against the Clippers to have them ready against the Lakers on Thursday. That worked well for them!

So, let’s dive into the win. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.

Rui Hachimura

28 minutes, 10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3-9 FG, 2-5 3PT, 2-2 FT, +12

A strong night from Rui on both ends of the floor. There were a couple of really strong rebounds he grabbed and even though there was a sequence in which he seemed allergic to grabbing boards, it was an overall good game from him.

Grade: B+

LeBron James

31 minutes, 20 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 9-20 FG, 0-2 3PT, 2-2 FT, +7

It sure felt like LeBron had more than 20 points on the night, but maybe because there were some really big dunks, it felt like more.

And I shouldn’t be surprised by how much he has left in the tank one game after a nasty poster dunk, but my word was he absolutely ready for this game.

His work on the boards was the best example of how up for the game he was.

Grade: A

Anthony Davis

31 minutes, 24 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 9-18 FG, 0-1 3PT, 6-6 FT, +15

The Celtics present plenty of opportunities for AD to succeed on the interior and he took full advantage on Thursday. Kristaps Porzingis has zero interest banging down low and Al Horford is about 237 years old, so AD had his way.

Grade: A

Max Christie

29 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2-6 FG, 2-6 3PT, +12

It’s easy to have watched this game and been critical of Max, who was constantly giving up jumpers from Porzingis. But I actually liked this defensive strategy, because it more or less baited Boston into often contested, inefficient mid-range jumpers by Porzingis instead of 3-pointers.

And Max did his part. He got low, made it difficult on Porzingis and forced him into some ugly misses. It’s the type of performance that doesn’t show up in the box score but was a good one.

Grade: B+

Austin Reaves

33 minutes, 23 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 7-13 FG, 4-8 3PT, 5-6 FT, +14

This felt like one of the games Reaves had the most control over as a lead guard, particularly in the second half. It felt like he knew where he needed to go and finishing with zero turnovers against Jrue Holiday and Derrick White is a great showing in it’s own right.

Grade: A

Gabe Vincent

26 minutes, 12 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 4-8 FG, 4-7 3PT, +22

The team leader in plus-minus in this win? None other than Gabe Vincent himself.

We’ve said this many times this season, but this was his best game as a Laker. He knocked down some timely shots, played great defense and was a solid 3-and-D guard.

I even forgive him for that wild 3-pointer he took off a ball screen in the third quarter.

Grade: A

Jaxson Hayes

14 minutes, 5 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2-4 FG, 1-2 FT, +14

I want to be mad at Hayes because he had some wild mistakes in the first half, but how can you possibly be mad at him when he had EIGHT rebounds. We won the game. Let’s ignore the on-court mistakes for a night.

Grade: B+

Dorian Finney-Smith

20 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 0-2 FG, 0-2 3PT, +20

It would have been interesting to see the lineup the Lakers went to if the game was close late because having DFS switched onto Porzingis late in the game feels better than having Max in the same spot, even for how well he played.

But because we blew them out, I guess we’ll never know!

Grade: B

Dalton Knecht

14 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 5-7 FG, 3-4 3PT, +3

There were a couple of possessions where Knecht really struggled with Jayson Tatum defensively. But about that time, he responded with a couple 3-pointers in a row.

Nothing has changed with him. If he can make shots, he can stay on the floor. Otherwise, it’s hard to rationalize it.

Grade: B+

Bronny James, Christian Koloko, Cam Reddish, Shake Milton

This was the victory cigar crew. Nothing is better than Bronny getting minutes against the Celtics in a blowout win at home.

Thursday’s inactives: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Armel Traore, Trey Jemison III, Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.