Los Angeles Lakers: Top 10 moments of the 2018-19 NBA season

3. Rajon Rondo‘s heroics in a former home

Whether anyone will admit it or not, the days leading up to the annual February trade deadline were a tough stretch for most of the Lakers roster. L.A. had been linked to rumors regarding the availability of Anthony Davis, and the front office’s desire to get a deal done at any cost likely affected some of their less experienced players.

It was the day of the deadline when the Lakers were in town to play the Boston Celtics. They sat at an even 27-27 following a 136-94 gut-punch at the hands of the Indiana Pacers, and were running out of time to make a playoff push.

L.A. would go down as many as 18 to the Cs, continuing their spiral towards what seemed like the point of no return. To their credit, the team came together and clawed its way back into the game until Kyrie Irving gave Boston the lead with under 12 seconds to play.

After it looked as though the Lakers would suffer defeat following Al Horford‘s block on Brandon Ingram’s layup attempt, the ball was tipped around before it wound up in the hands of Rajon Rondo who, in a weird twist of fate, sunk the dagger into the hearts of Celtics fans with a buzzer-beating jumper that gave L.A. the 129-128 victory.

The shot was viewed as a potential turning point for the Lakers. The deadline had come and gone and the win itself was uplifting given the circumstances. The turnaround obviously never came to fruition, but for just a few days, it looked as though Rondo had given his new team a jolt of life at the expense of his old one.