Le Journal

After Thursday’s dramatic win over the Raptors, the Lakers will travel straight to Boston to take on the Celtics on Friday. This is the first meeting between the rivals this season. Start time and TV schedule Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics When: 4 p.m. PT, Dec. 5 Where: TD Garden Watch: Prime Video, Spectrum Sportsnet The Lakers will face the Celtics for the first time since Jayson Tatum unfortunately tore his Achilles. This means this match will look completely different from how it did in the past with this current version of the Celtics. Still, that doesn’t mean this one will be a walk in the park. In fact, it’ll be far from it. Competing on the road, on the second night of a back-to-back, on your rival’s home floor without your best player, it feels as if this game sounds like a scheduled loss already. But the purple and gold have proven they can rise to the occasion when a challenge presents itself. And there’s no challenge better than beating a rival on the road. Join the conversation! Sign up for a user account and get: Fewer ads Create community posts Comment on articles, community posts Rec comments, community posts New, improved notifications system! In order to do that, the Lakers need to focus on stopping the Celtics’ backcourt. Their guard rotation featuring Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White and Anfernee Simons is one of the finest in the league and is the reason why they have the association’s fourth-best offense. Brown, specifically, is averaging 29 points a game. They still attempt a ton of 3-pointers a game (42.8 per game) and commit the fewest turnovers in the league (11.7 per game). To the Celtics’ credit, their ability to stay competitive despite missing a big piece in Tatum is admirable. That’s a testament to the coaching of Joe Mazzulla, who should be a measuring stick for Redick in this one. Both their teams will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back with Boston taking care of the Washington Wizards pretty easily on Thursday. Which coach will come up with the better game plan to get their guys prepared? It’s not going to be easy but winning in a tough environment involving high-stakes games is something they’ve done multiple times this season. It’s going to take another team-wide effort led by LeBron James and Austin Reaves. Let’s see if the Lakers can win their first matchup against their rivals this season on Friday. Notes and Updates Since both teams played on Thursday, the injury report for this one won’t be out until a few hours before tip-off. Although for the Lakers, expect Luka Doncic (personal reasons) to remain out. Marcus Smart (lower back injury management) was out for Thursday’s game but could make his return this road trip. As for the Celtics, Jayson Tatum (Achilles surgery recovery) is out. You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.

Arkansas head football coach Ryan Silverfield was introduced to Razorback fans in a public event on Thursday, Dec. 4.

One of the standouts for the Lakers off the bench this season has been Marcus Smart. Brought in after a couple of disappointing seasons since being traded from the Celtics, Smart has been rejuvenated in LA and has made a positive impact on a nightly basis. The only thing that has slowed that impact, unfortunately, has been a recent back injury. Smart has not played in the team’s last three games with back spasms and is listed out for Thursday’s game against the Raptors. Prior to the most recent contest against the Suns, head coach JJ Redick gave an update on Smart’s status that was both encouraging but did not paint the picture of an immediate return. “He was feeling a little tightness – I guess it was three games ago now – before the game,” Redick said, “played through it, tightened up after and it was really tight the next day, the day before Thanksgiving. So, we got imaging. Imaging was unremarkable. Looked like a normal 11-year NBA veteran, We’ve all gotten that MRI. “We’re not concerned long term. It’s a day-to-day thing. I had a number of those like week-to-two-week episodes during a stretch of my career when I played for the Clippers. It would just pop up and you would feel like you’re progressing and then it would kind of plateau. So we expect him to be back soon. It’s not a long-term thing.” The hopeful way of looking at things would be that Smart is ready for a return, but not in a back-to-back, which the Lakers have on Thursday and Friday. Even if that’s not the case, it sounds like Smart is near a return. Without him, the Lakers’ lack of defense otherwise has been noticeable. The team struggles in that department even with Smart healthy, so having him out means the team has effectively no defensive presence. It’s a testament to his play and impact this season that it’s not a controversial opinion or hot take to say the Lakers need Smart back. He provides lots of things to the game, tangible and not, that the Lakers need. Hopefully, the flight across the country didn’t cause his back to tighten up too much and he can return in the coming games. You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.

Despite Jarred Vanderbilt impressing during training camp and being healthy for the first time in years, he finds himself on the outside looking in regarding the rotation. While he didn’t necessarily wow during the early parts of the season, he’s one of the best defenders on a roster that struggles to stop anyone. Seeing him getting six consecutive DNP’s, then, despite being healthy is certainly noticeable. So why has a player who was key to LA’s Western Conference Finals appearance just a couple of years ago now been unable to earn playing time? Before the Lakers took on the Suns, head coach JJ Redick explained why Vando has been a bench warmer. “He’s been good,” Redick said. “He’s been a pro. The most recent stay ready that we had this week, he was great. He’s been a great teammate, so no surprise there. I had communicated to him even before LeBron came back that there were certain things that he needed to be able to do consistently to play before LeBron came back, after LeBron came back and that there was potentially going to be a numbers crunch because we probably were going to play a nine-man rotation and that’s that was just the reality. “Having said that, it doesn’t mean that he’s not going to be back in the rotation at some point, whether we’re healthy or whether we’re missing a couple of guys. When you’re winning games, it’s hard to redo the rotation mid-winning streak. We’re looking at everything. There were some lineup combinations when we were injured that we had to go away from and he was, I guess, caught up as a sort of innocent bystander in some ways to that. But I certainly have empathy for him and it’s not a fun situation to be in as a coach and it’s certainly not a fun situation for him to be in as a player.” There’s a lot to unpack here. It’s clear that Vanderbilt’s offensive weakness is what makes him unplayable or, rather, this far down the rotation. When he’s out there, teams don’t respect his shot, and the spacing shrinks. This year, he’s healthy, but shooting a woeful 28% from 3-point range. He’s not a drive-to-the-rim ball-handler either, so it’s hard to think of how you can better utilize him on offense. Vanderbilt hasn’t developed the skill at the NBA level to have a shot he can rely on or a way to force teams to respect him offensively. However, he’s arguably the team’s best defender. And on a roster that can’t stop anybody, you’d think there would be a way to find a shift or two for Vando. The other problem is how the Lakers play defense, it doesn’t highlight Vando’s strong suits. Vanderbilt works best when he is an on-ball defender focused on one player and staying on them. The Lakers still do a lot of switching and that neutralizes Vando’s impact. Also, Redick has already indirectly made his thoughts on Vando as a defender clear. When speaking with Tim Legler of ESPN on the Coaches Corner, Redick said his team didn’t have a lockdown defender. Lakers coach JJ Redick sits down with @legsespn for another episode of Coaches Corner 🏀 pic.twitter.com/iH7RXmY8Zv— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 15, 2025 So, if you’re not utilizing Vando’s defensive ability and his offense is bad, that’s how you end up with a player making $11.5 million and not playing. Redick also said that Vando could end up back in the rotation and that it’s tough to make changes when the team is winning. I don’t think Lakers fans want an injury or a losing streak to create a scenario where their best defender gets some run, but that might be what happens. Given how bad the Lakers’ defense has been, perhaps it’s time to give Vando some run right now. With Los Angeles starting a road trip with back-to-back games, maybe the opportunity will present itself and Vando can show what he can contribute to this team. For now, he appears to remain in good spirits and is staying ready. Here’s hoping Redick sees how Vanderbilt can raise a defensive floor that likes to hang out too much in the basement. You can follow Edwin on Twitter at…