Lakers embarrass themselves against rival Celtics in front of legends

The gold banners shimmered in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena on Sunday afternoon. They were shown on the video board repeatedly, on the NBC broadcast, and during the halftime celebration of former Lakers coach Pat Riley who helped hang four of them during his tenure.

The afternoon was supposed to be a celebration for the Hall of Fame coach. A love letter to the Lakers’ Showtime era. A purple-and-gold victory lap against their hated rivals.

Instead, it turned into a public mugging.

The afternoon began with pomp, circumstance and a bronze grin. Riley poised beside his newly unveiled statue, Armani suit pressed, hair slicked back as if time had never dared touch it. The architect of the Lakers’ golden 1980s. The man who beat Boston twice on the sport’s grandest stage. The maestro of flair and fast breaks.

“The time has come to kick some Boston ass,” Riley declared before tipoff, the words hanging in the air like cigar smoke.

They echoed.

Then they boomeranged.

Because by the time the final buzzer mercifully sounded, it was the Celtics who had done the ass-kicking — 111-89, a 22-point dismantling that felt even more lopsided than the scoreboard suggested. On a day meant to celebrate the Lakers’ dominance over their oldest rival, Boston walked into Los Angeles and treated it like a home game.

And at times, it sounded like one, too.

You could hear it in the second quarter when the green jerseys sprinkled throughout the lower bowl began to rise in unison. You could feel it midway through the third, when every made 3 by Payton Pritchard was greeted with a roar that cut through the building. By the fourth quarter, as the Lakers trailed by 20 and fans in gold streamed toward the exits, a full-throated “Let’s go Celtics!” chant echoed through the arena. In Los Angeles no less.

A “Let’s go Celtics” chant has broken out at the Crypt. Absolutely ugly loss.

— Michael J. Duarte (@michaeljduarte) February 23, 2026

That is not just a loss. That is a cultural bruise.

The Celtics didn’t just beat the Lakers; they exposed them. Peeled back the layers. Showed the seams.

Jaylen Brown played like a man who understood the symbolism of the afternoon. He scored 32 points and flirted with a triple-double. He attacked switches with surgical precision, bullied smaller defenders in the post and glided through the lane as if the Lakers’ defense were a polite suggestion rather than a professional obligation.

Then there was Pritchard, the sharpshooter who turned this rivalry showcase into his personal shooting clinic. He hit six 3s and scored 30 points. More than any player on the Lakers team, including Luka Dončić and LeBron James. Each jumper felt like another splash of cold water in the Lakers’ face.

“This is how this team kills you,” said Lakers coach JJ Redick of the Celtics. “Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard. Pritchard made a lot of them (3-pointers) tonight. He played a great game.”

Redick blamed the Lakers’ lack of offense, not the defense, but make no mistake about it. This blowout loss was about the defense, or lack of it.

It remains the Lakers’ Achilles’ heel, and on Sunday it was exposed again.

Rotations were sluggish. Closeouts were soft. The Lakers were outrebounded on the defensive glass 41-31. And then there’s the elephant in the locker room.

“They made timely shots, and we didn’t,” said James after the loss. “Defensively we held serve as long as we could, but offensively we didn’t give ourselves a chance. We’ve got a lot of room to grow.”

Luka Dončić is an offensive savant, a generational scorer who can bend defenses with a glance. But on this afternoon, the other side of the ball told a harsher story. When he was on the floor, the Lakers were a staggering minus-21. Boston hunted him in space, forced switches and made him defend in isolation. The Celtics didn’t just recognize the mismatch; they exploited it without mercy.

“They were physical. They played great defense. We have to match their physicality on the defensive end,” said Dončić, who was the biggest culprit on that end of the floor. “We need to do better on offense.”

Championship teams have weak links. They just don’t let those links stay weak.

Former Celtic Marcus Smart, now wearing purple and gold, was brought to LA for his defensive prowess and ability to score the basketball when necessary. Instead he went scoreless on Sunday. 0 for 7 from the field. The defensive edge that once defined his game dulled by indecision and missed shots. When he clanked a few more jumpers off the rim in the fourth quarter, you could almost hear the collective sigh. This was not revenge. This was regression.

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By the time the game unraveled, the symbolism was unavoidable. Riley’s statue stood outside, immortalized in bronze, a reminder of an era when the Lakers imposed their will on Boston. Inside, a new generation of Celtics was imposing its.

This rivalry has always been about more than basketball. It’s about legacy. Identity. The tug-of-war between coasts. On Sunday, Boston didn’t just win a regular-season game. They walked into Los Angeles on a day dripping with nostalgia and reminded everyone that banners from the 1980s don’t defend pick and rolls in 2026.

And as the green-clad pockets of fans lingered in the aisles, chanting while seats emptied around them, the message was unmistakable: History is earned every night. It does not arrive with a statue.

On a day meant to honor the past, the present punched Los Angeles in the mouth.