Beat L.A.?
Oh, the Celtics did, by a 111-101 score Saturday night in a regular-season matchup that had so much buzz that you would have thought it came with a trophy presentation at the end.
And they would, without a doubt, should ABC and the NBA’s daydream of a Celtics-Lakers duel in the NBA Finals somehow come to fruition in June.
That’s the biggest of many takeaways from the Celtics’ emboldening victory at TD Garden, just the third loss for the Lakers in 15 games — and first in their last eight — since they were gifted Luka Doncic by the punch-line Mavericks on February 1.