The Los Angeles Lakers played their next-to-last game of the Las Vegas summer league on Thursday. They took on the Boston Celtics, their historic rivals, and they were hoping to get a few promising performances from their young prospects.
They looked good early as they got out to a seven-point lead late in the first quarter. But they suffered some adversity when forward Darius Bazley, who has been one of their best players during summer league play, suffered what appeared to be a leg injury and was taken off the court in a wheelchair. He had contributed eight points on 3-of-4 shooting, four rebounds and two blocks in eight minutes.
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Boston outscored the Lakers 19-9 in the second quarter to take control of the game. The Lakers never recovered, and they ended up losing, 87-78.
Bronny James struggled mightily in the first half. He had six turnovers and went scoreless, and he didn’t take his first shot attempt until the final seconds of the second quarter. But afterward, he played solid basketball. He finished 7-of-13 from the field and 1-of-4 from 3-point range, giving him 18 points to go along with five assists, three rebounds and one steal.
Center Christian Koloko was a presence with 12 points, six rebounds, six blocks, three assists and two steals. Dalton Knecht had eight points on 3-of-12 overall shooting and 1-of-6 from downtown, guard DJ Steward had 14 points and five assists and big man Trey Jemison III came off the bench to contribute five rebounds and two blocks in 15 minutes.
Los Angeles will wrap up its summer league schedule with a game versus the Denver Nuggets on Friday evening.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Summer Lakers fall to Celtics despite strong game from Bronny James