The superstar duo Sunday in Los Angeles wasn’t Luka Doncic and LeBron James. It was Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard.
The Celtics teammates combined for 62 points as Boston blew out the Lakers 111-89 at Crypto.com Arena in the latest installment of the NBA’s most historic rivalry.
Brown led all scorers with 32 points, plus eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 36 minutes. Pritchard had 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range, in 37 minutes off the bench.
It was the best in a string of superb performances by the starter-turned-sixth man, who’s topped 20 points six times in seven games since the Anfernee Simons-for-Nikola Vucevic trade prompted head coach Joe Mazzulla to shift him back to the second unit.
Pritchard also tallied a team-high eight assists and four rebounds in the win, which improved Boston’s record to 37-19 and 13-6 against the Western Conference.
“(I’m) just coming in and being aggressive, knowing that our team needs a scoring punch off the bench,” Pritchard said in a postgame interview with NBC’s Zora Stephenson. “We obviously have Vucevic, too, that we added, so us two coming off the bench, it’s like starter-level. So it helps, especially in that second unit. But regardless, it don’t matter if you start the game or whatever. It matters if you finish it and help your team win.”
The Celtics blew out the Lakers 126-105 when the teams met Dec. 5 at TD Garden, but LA played that game without Doncic, James and Marcus Smart. Both squads were at or near full strength Sunday, with only Jayson Tatum — who appears to be closing in on a return from Achilles surgery — unavailable.
Boston’s offense found early success by feeding Vucevic in the post. The veteran center made all three of his first-quarter field goals — all from within six feet — and also drew a foul after an entry pass. One of Vucevic’s makes came off an alley-oop from Derrick White, who picked Jarred Vanderbilt’s pocket after a rebound and lofted a pass to the cutting big man.
Acquired from Chicago ahead of the NBA trade deadline, Vucevic has posted a plus/minus of plus-11 or better in four of his first five games as a Celtic. The 35-year-old was a plus-15 in 21 minutes Sunday, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds.
“(I’m feeling) better and better each day,” Vucevic told NBC Sports Boston sideline reporter Abby Chin. “(On Saturday), we had another practice, which helped me. But each day, better and better. … It’s just daily process. We’ll continue to work on it. But I thought so far, it’s been good. And as long as we’re winning things just all fall into place.”
Hugo Gonzalez was another first-quarter standout for the Celtics. The 20-year-old hounded the Lakers’ top stars, forcing misses by Doncic (25 points, 9-for-22, minus-21) and James (20 points, 9-of-21, minus-14) with stingy defense and notching a steal with his full-court pressure.
The period ended with a rookie mistake by Gonzalez, however. Austin Reaves baited him into a three-shot foul just before the buzzer, then made all three free throws to tie the game at 28-28.
Pritchard made two highlight-reel 3-pointers early in the second quarter — one from the logo to beat the shot clock and a vicious stepback that left Vanderbilt lying on his back in the paint. The second put the Celtics ahead 34-33, and they led for the rest of the half.
“I just like to ball, you know what I mean?” Pritchard told Stephenson. “If the ball’s in my hands, sometimes I like to dance with it, get separation and make a play. Sometimes I shoot it, sometimes I make a play for my teammates, but it’s just about finding separation.”
Brown shot just 3-for-12 from the field before halftime, but his aggressive drives earned him 10 trips to the foul line, nearly matching the Lakers’ first-half team total (11). Those included two technical free throws Brown shot after Reaves and Smart were T’d up for arguing. (They believed Brown, not Smart, should have been penalized after the two collided beneath the LA basket.)
Brown brought the pressure defensively, too, with three first-half steals, two of which led to fast-break baskets at the other end.
Doncic kept the Lakers close with 18 first-half points, but the Celtics began to separate late in the second quarter. White scored eight points in the final 3:26, including a 3-pointer that gave Boston its first double-digit lead of the game.
Then, after a Rui Hachimura three, Pritchard shook loose from Doncic and buried a 30-foot buzzer-beater that sent the Celtics into the locker room up 60-50.
King of the Buzzer Beater 👑 pic.twitter.com/Ivilddukch
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 23, 2026
It wasn’t the three-quarter-court heave that Pritchard hit against Doncic’s Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the 2024 NBA Finals, but it had a similar effect. The Celtics controlled play throughout the third quarter, then pulled away in the fourth for their eighth win in the last nine games.
Pritchard hit a 3-pointer on his first touch of the second half and another less than two minutes later. Boston’s lead reached 14 points when Gonzalez caught Doncic sleeping on an after-timeout inbounds pass. A Brown stepback three made it 84-71 entering the fourth.
Los Angeles opened the final period with a 6-2 run, but Pritchard responded with back-to-back midrange makes to retake momentum. He then drew a foul on the next Boston possession, assisted on a Brown jumper and hit a fadeaway that made it a 15-point game with 5:12 to play.
Smart tried in vain to close the gap against his former team, attempting three fourth-quarter 3-pointers and missing all three. The former Celtics guard finished with zero points on 0-for-7 shooting in 22 minutes.
Consecutive threes by Brown and Pritchard finished off the Lakers. Down 105-83 with 3:24 remaining, Los Angeles head coach JJ Redick pulled his starters. Mazzulla followed suit, sending in deep reserves Luka Garza, Amari Williams and Ron Harper Jr. for the final few minutes.
Sitting second in the East behind the Detroit Pistons, the red-hot Celtics close out their four-game West Coast swing with a back-to-back against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday and Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.
