At least the Lakers revealed a few hours before tipoff that superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis would not be participating in Thursday night’s matchup with the Celtics, the 300th in the franchises’ storied history.
The Celtics? They didn’t even have the courtesy to tell anyone they weren’t showing up.
Under some circumstances, the Celtics’ 114-105 loss to James’s Supporting Cast at TD Garden could be written off as an aberration, a random lousy Thursday night in a long season. But those circumstances don’t exist at this particular moment, even in context of this mostly excellent season.