Boston Celtics: Top 10 games from the first half of 2019-20

4. 1/20 vs Los Angeles Lakers

Result: Win (139-107)

For the remaining games on the list, you could make a strong argument for each to be the top spot. Therefore, some may disagree, and that’s ok. As long as everyone can realize each of these games were special in their own way.

Boston was struggling going into their January 20th matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers. They needed a strong performance to get the team back on track.

In this particular outing, the Boston Celtics were facing their longtime rival, the Los Angeles Lakers. With LeBron James and Anthony Davis coming to town, it certainly would not be easy for a Celtics team that is known league-wide as a “small ball” team. The question was indeed going to be how to stop those two.

As it turns out, the Celtics may have laid the foundation for how to beat the Lakers. Boston shot 55 percent from the field and nearly 50 percent from three.

On top of that, they held Los Angeles to just 26 percent from three on 26 attempts. Anthony Davis only attempted seven shots, and was limited to just four rebounds. They certainly did a good job of slowing him down.

That kind of two-way play is hard to do every night, but the Celtics managed to find their groove. Three players scored at least 20 points, and two more (Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter) were within a few points of reaching that list. With that many players capable of putting up points in bunches like that, it makes it difficult for an opposing team to game plan on defense.

Boston showed they are complete and dangerous in this game. While the defense they displayed will not show up every game, it’s nice for Boston fans to know that the team is actually capable of playing elite defense. That kind of defense, against anybody, would get a team the win. It certainly helped the Celtics.