LOS ANGELES -- The Lakers showed up but didn't show out in a historic rivalry matchup.
On the day the Lakers honored legendary Showtime head coach Pat Riley with a statue unveiling, the Boston Celtics played spoilers, flattening Los Angeles 111-89 on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
Despite still not having Jayson Tatum appear in any games so far this season with an Achilles injury, the Celtics are still a top-two team in the East with the second-rated offensive team and the eighth-rated defensive unit in the NBA.
And they showed why that is behind Jaylen Brown and Peyton Pritchard combining for 62 points as the Lakers' offense spurted in the second half.
"We did a good job limiting their fast break points [and] did a good job limiting their points in the paint to under 50," coach JJ Redick said. "We did enough defensively. We were just awful offensively tonight."
After nearly matching the Celtics in 3-point shooting at halftime, going seven-for-15 to Boston's eight-for-18, the Lakers went on a complete dry spell in the second half.
In the second half, L.A. shot 2 for 15 (13%) from 3 and 16 for 44 (36%), putting their own nail in the coffin in the fourth quarter, where they shot zero for seven.
Luka Dončić didn't look like his normal league-leading scorer self against Boston as they smothered and sped him up most of the night while contesting nearly every shot he took.
Dončić was the Lakers' leading scorer with 25 points on nine for 22 shooting, while LeBron James poured in 14 of his 20 points in the second half.
James reached another milestone midway in the second half, surpassing 43,000 points as he continues to add on as the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
Brown and Pritchard each had 19 points in the second half, with Brown leading the game with 32 points on 10 of 28 shooting.
Pritchard was arguably the man of the match in the Lakers' loss. He poured in his 30 total points off the bench behind an efficient 10 for 14 shooting as he killed any Lakers defender from deep or inside the perimeter.
"They’re gonna make 20 if they're that good. So, trying to limit that is, I think, the biggest thing when you play these guys. You have to be willing to live with contested off-the-dribble jumpers, and Pritchard made a lot of them. He did. He played a great game,” Redick said.
The Lakers ultimately failed to show up against another top dog in the NBA, as the matchup between these two historic rivals has slowly become a distant memory.
The game melted with passion from both sides of the fandoms. Lakers fans booed every Boston player who went to the foul line and so did Celtics fans, many of whom were in attendance. But the result was a disappointing one that ended with Celtics fans cheering on as fans in purple and gold headed for the exits early.
The Lakers' loss drops them to the sixth spot in the Western Conference with a 34-22 overall record and 11-14 record against teams over .500. L.A. will play Orlando on Tuesday before a two-game road trip to Phoenix and Golden State.