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The Boston Celtics suffered a tough loss on Thursday night.
They were favored by over 15 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, who were playing without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but it didn’t matter as the Lakers came away with a 114-105 win.
The Lakers had a strong first half and were able to keep the Celtics at bay in the second half to get the win.
TNT’s Charles Barkley, who was keeping a close eye on this game, thinks it’s easily the Celtics’ worst loss of the year.
“Easily,” Barkley said. “Those other two teams, they’re contenders, the Nuggets and the Clippers. But to lose to a team without LeBron and AD, Reggie said it, but I said at halftime that I’m really concerned about my Celtics’ mental toughness. You win games on talent but you have to win games in the playoffs on toughness. You have to be mentally strong and take care of the ball. This team here, to me, they’ve got great talent, but they’re mentally weak.”
“Worst loss of the season for the Celtics in your mind?” – Ernie Johnson
“Easily… You have to win games in the playoffs on toughness… You have to be mentally strong… This team here, to me, they’ve got great talent, but they’re mentally weak.” – Charles Barkley https://t.co/hfb1HowoQ7 pic.twitter.com/9eoMqXAjib
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 2, 2024
The Celtics dropped to 37-12 with this loss, which is still good for first in the Eastern Conference.
That said, they still need to clean some things up if they want to go deep in the playoffs this season.