The Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night in a battle of two old school rivals moving in opposite directions. The Lakers are 5-27 which is the worst in the Western Conference and second worst in the NBA while the Celtics are 18-13 which has them in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.
The main storyline of this game is going to be Kobe Bryant's last game in Boston but there is some basketball to be played too. The Lakers have lost four straight games and are looking to get off the schneid on Wednesday night.
Kobe leads the team with his 17.3 points per game so far this season but he hasn't played all that well in his final NBA season. Despite better play recently the black mamba has shot just 34 percent from the field and 36 percent from three through 28 games this season.
It is hard to find any sort of bright spots on this Lakers team this year but one of them might be rookie forward Larry Nance Jr. Nance Jr., just recently entered the Lakers rotation and gained consistent minutes and he has taken advantage. Nance had the first double-double of his career on Sunday against the Grizzlies and followed that up with a 12 point, seven rebound performance on Monday. The Lakers look like they might have something in the athletic 22 year old.
As mentioned before these teams are going in different directions as the Celtics have won four straight games prompting forward Jae Crowder to say the team has found their swagger.
Crowder is the only Celtic to have started all 31 games so far this season and he has played very well all year. The 25 year old forward is averaging 13.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game and has played particularly well recently. Crowder recently had a stretch of three straight games where he had double-doubles and overall he seems to be playing his best basketball at the moment.
While Crowder has been great, it would be hard to talk about this Celtics team without mentioning Isaiah Thomas. Thomas is having an All-Star season as he is averaging 20.7 points and 6.8 assists per game and he is in the top 25 in the league in PER with his 21.6. Thomas hasn't shot the ball well in his last four games but he has increased his assists and is finding ways to help the team win.
These two teams will meet again in early April in Los Angeles but this one should be special as it's Kobe's last time playing in the TD Garden. Kobe said it will be a "love-hate fest" but he has been getting great respect at every arena he has been to since announcing his retirement and this should be no different.
The Lakers are healthy heading into this game and should have everyone available while the Celtics' David Lee has been dealing with back spasms and is listed as questionable. Lee has missed the last two games with the injury but he did practice on Tuesday.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 P.M. and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Lakers radio broadcast go here and for the Celtics radio broadcast go here.
