Five takeaways from Rajon Rondo's game-winning shot that led the Los Angeles Lakers past the Boston Celtics

Kyle Irving

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Five takeaways from Rajon Rondo's game-winning shot that led the Los Angeles Lakers past the Boston Celtics image

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics 129-128 on a buzzer-beating jumpshot by Rajon Rondo.

This comes as a huge win for an L.A. squad trying to bounce back from a 42-point loss in their last contest. It also snapped a five-game win streak for the Celtics.

Here are five takeaways from the newest chapter in the Celtics-Lakers rivalry...

Lakers' third quarter

The Celtics held a nine-point lead at the half but the Lakers' third quarter outburst swung the momentum of the game.

They scored 42 points in the third quarter alone to turn a nine-point deficit into a six-point lead going into the fourth quarter.

Los Angeles was a ridiculous 9-for-13 (69.2 percent) from beyond the arc after making eight threes throughout the entire first half.

Kyle Kuzma led the way with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope buried a pair of triples while Brandon Ingram, LeBron James and Rajon Rondo all added one 3-ball to the Lakers' box score.

James had seven assists in the frame and the Lakers as a whole had 12 assists on 16 made field goals. Their 42 points in the quarter was tied for the third-most points they have scored in a single quarter all season.

Celtics' bench scoring

The Celtics' bench was the lifeblood of the team in this game.

Kyrie Irving struggled through the first three quarters of this one and Terry Rozier picked up the slack. Between him, Jaylen Brown and Daniel Theis – they kept Boston's chances alive.

The Celtics bench outscored the Lakers bench 61-31 behind Theis' 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting. He was two points shy of tying his career-high and added six rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 23 valuable minutes off the bench.

Rozier finished with 19 points, six assists and four rebounds while Brown dropped 18 points on an efficient 7-for-10 shooting night. The Celtics were 22-9 going into tonight's contest when outscoring their opponents' second unit.

Lakers' 3-point shooting

The Lakers had their second-best shooting night of the season from beyond the arc in terms of 3-point percentage (53.7 percent).

But more importantly, they had the best 3-point shooting night in franchise history – they knocked down a franchise-best for threes in a game with 22 3-pointers made.

They were 22-for-41 from long range with three different players knocking down five threes. LeBron, Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope all finished with five 3-pointers while Rondo and Lance Stephenson hit three apiece and Ingram converted one.

Perimeter shooting has been the Lakers' biggest void all season – they rank in the bottom-10 in the league in both threes made per game and 3-point percentage.

When the Lakers do have good shooting nights like tonight, their record flourishes. They are now 14-2 this season in games they hit more 3-pointers than their opponent.

Their 3-point shooting overcame their woes from the free throw line, which nearly cost them the game. The Lakers were 7-for-18 (38.9 percent) from the charity stripe while the Celtics went a perfect 20-for-20 on their free ones.

LeBron vs. Kyrie

Prior to this contest, LeBron selected Kyrie with his second pick in the NBA All-Star Draft.

Hours later he came away with his ninth victory over Irving, holding a 9-1 record all-time against his former teammate.

James played a complete game through-and-through, notching a triple-double of 28 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. He struggled shooting from the free throw line but made up for it with a 5-for-10 shooting night from the perimeter. No 3-pointer was bigger than this game-tying shot at the back end of a hectic play late in the fourth quarter:


As for Irving, his final line could be deceiving because for the majority of the night he just did not have it. He had 24 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals but struggled to find his shooting touch. Irving was 6-for-21 from the field (28.6 percent), his third-worst shooting night of the season.

Despite his struggles he still showed flashes of his normal, clutch self down the final stretch. When he checked into the game in the fourth, he rattled off nine consecutive points for the Celtics then found Marcus Morris on a 3-pointer that seemed like the back-breaker that would put the Lakers away.

Irving even danced through a pick-and-roll for a finish at the rim that gave Boston a lead with 11 seconds remaining – just before...

Rondo for the win

Rondo buried the game-winning jumper.

The former NBA Champion with the Celtics sucked the life out of the building he used to call home by draining the game-winning shot as time expired.


After the game Rondo simply stated, "I can't describe it. It's unbelieveable. I couldn't have imagined that one."

The savvy veteran point guard finished with 17 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds shooting 7-for-11 from the field and 3-for-4 from 3-point land.

Rondo even had future Hall of Famer and former Celtics' teammate Kevin Garnett in the building repping the No. 9 Celtics' jersey.


It was certainly a night to remember at the TD Garden for Rondo.

Kyle Irving

Kyle Irving Photo

You read that wrong – not Kyrie Irving. From Boston, graduated from the University of New Hampshire. Sixth season as a content producer for NBA.com's Global editions. Covering the NBA Draft has become his annual "dream come true" moment on the job. Irving has a soft spot for pass-first point guards, with Rajon Rondo and Steve Nash being two of his favorite players of all time.