Celtics dominate Lakers behind Irving’s 30 points

Kyrie Irving scored 30 points, Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris added 16 each, and the visiting Boston Celtics continued to emerge from a recent downturn by extending their winning streak to three with a 120-107 victory Saturday over the Los Angeles Lakers. Gordon Hayward added 15 points as the Celtics avenged a defeat to the Lakers at home Feb. 7 when former Boston point guard Rajon Rondo hit a game-winning shot at the buzzer.

LeBron James scored 30 points for the Lakers, who were playing without a number of key contributors because of injuries. Los Angeles lost its fifth consecutive game and fell for the seventh time in its last eight games. The Celtics emerged from the All-Star break losing their first four games. They have won four of five since then, though, including three consecutively, all in California.

On the current four-game trip to the West Coast, the Celtics have an impressive 128-95 victory at Golden State, a 111-109 triumph at Sacramento and Saturday's domination of the Lakers. The Celtics will remain in Los Angeles for the finale of the trip Monday against the Clippers. Boston started to break open a close game late in the second quarter while putting together a 12-4 run to take a 57-47 lead at halftime. Boston closed the first half by scoring the final seven points.

Boston extended the lead to as many as 16 in the third quarter when it outscored the Lakers 36-29 in the period to take a 93-76 advantage. Moritz Wagner scored 22 points and Jonathan Williams added 18 for the Lakers, both career highs.

Los Angeles was playing its first game amid the news that both forward Brandon Ingram and guard Lonzo Ball would miss the remainder of the season. Ingram has a deep venous thrombosis in his right shoulder and Ball has a severely sprained left ankle. Also out for the Lakers on Saturday was Kyle Kuzma, who also has a sprained right ankle. The injury situation meant that Wagner got his first career start in his 27th career game.

Irving went 12 of 18 from the field, including 5 of 8 from 3-point range, after missing Wednesday's game at Sacramento because of a left thigh contusion. --Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)