LeBron James, Anthony Davis match off-court messages with on-court dominance vs. Celtics

In the Lakers’ win against the Celtics, LeBron James and Anthony Davis reminded us all why they are worth investing in.

LOS ANGELES— The Lakers’ game against the Celtics on Thursday night had all the tension of a television drama.

It was NBA rivalry week. The Celtics entered Crytpo.com Arena as the defending champions. Los Angeles, on the other hand, is a team trying to prove to the league and itself that it belongs in the conversation as a contender.

At the same time, this week, there was a report that LeBron James and Anthony Davis are losing hope in the franchise’s ability to execute a trade to help them reach their goals. AD took it a step further, sitting down on camera with ESPN’s Shams Charania and saying he wants the Lakers to trade for a center.

So much chatter surrounding a team’s future could bury a squad just hours before a tough home game, but the Lakers responded by making more noise on the court than they have off of it.

Los Angeles routed Boston 117-96, ending their homestand with the best win of the season.

This game wasn’t a scenario in which the Lakers dominated late or built a big lead the Celtics couldn’t rally from. L.A. thoroughly outplayed Boston possession by possession, minute by minute.

“I thought that that was one of, if not our best, games in terms of executing our defensive game plan.” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said after the win. “Not overreacting to [Kristaps] Porzingis making a few turnaround jumpers.

“Again, like I said pregame, you have to be willing to live with stuff. Because of the way we wanted to guard them, it also required a lot on-ball in terms of staying in front and forcing off the dribble jumpers...It’s a credit to my staff, for sure, as we talked through things over the last 24 hours and It’s a credit to our guys for executing at a high level.”

LeBron and AD came out roaring as the duo combined for 16 points and eight rebounds in the opening period. During the closing seconds of the quarter, the King took flight, blowing past the Celtics' defense and slamming the ball into the basket.

In the second quarter, the NBA’s oldest player had another impressive slam, taking an Austin Reaves pass and finishing it with authority. Boston Celtic Kristaps Porziņģis had an opportunity to contest the dunk attempt but he made a business decision not to.

LeBron, upon landing back down to earth, glared at the Celtics big for his hesitation.

By halftime, the lead had ballooned to 19 and, while LeBron brought the highlights, AD contributed with raw production.

Davis led the team in points, rebounds and minutes played. The only thing left for him to do to help this franchise was to go into the stands and start selling hot dogs.

If the Lakers would’ve promised him the center he’s asking for, he might’ve even done it.

While the TNT broadcast featured vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka on the screen and displayed graphics of (awful) potential trade targets for the Lakers, the team kept working.

They withstood Boston's surge in the third and were only beaten by four points in the quarter. In the final 12 minutes, they put an exclamation point on the contest. Davis went perfect from the field, adding six more points to his total.

LeBron, at 40 years young, looked like the most energized player on the court. With 8:29 left, he backed down Peyton Pritchard from the top of the key to the low block and finished with a shot high off the glass to extend the lead to 24 points.

The Lakers players controlled what they could control on Thursday. They beat one of the best teams in the NBA and backed up their talk regarding wanting more help by showing they are worth investing in.

An organization the scale of the Lakers is very corporate and complex. Everyone has a job to do to help produce a product that’s worthy of the name in front of the jersey.

The stars and the surrounding pieces were impressive against the Celtics and demonstrated how good they can be, even with those very same players publicly stating that another player or two is needed to reach their goals.

“I think our front office is, obviously, working,” Davis said postgame. “Rob’s been working on trying to better the team. But for us, it’s about going out there and playing. Whether something happens or not, we got to go out and compete with whatever is in this locker room, just how we did tonight.

“We’re going to be doing a [road] trip. I’m not sure what’s going to happen and I know [Rob] is always working on the phones and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, we can’t try to wait on anything. We got to go out and compete and do what we got to do to to win basketball games.”

The Lakers sent as loud a message on the court as they had off it this week. Now, the focus shifts to Pelinka and the front office to avoid making this an era of what could’ve been instead of what was.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.