Celtics Look to Take Advantage of How Horrible the Lakers Are ATS

It's a rivalry that's as old as time.

OK, well maybe not that old, but Lakers and Celtics does go back quite a while. Even though it's a December regular-season game between the two teams Tuesday night in L.A., there's still a level of importance given both teams have had rough starts to the season.

Is Tatum Back?

Boston's now won three of four, while the Lakers are still trying to figure out this whole chemistry thing with their completely revamped roster. Wins over Portland and Philly and a close loss (moral victory?) to the Jazz have the Celtics riding a little momentum headed into Los Angeles and looking to move to three games over .500 for the first time all season.

Boston's offense is suddenly on a tear, having now scored 130 and 145 points in back-to-back games, something that hasn’t happened in over 30 years.

It also helps having the "good" Jayson Tatum during that stretch too, averaging 34.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists on 50-percent shooting.

Desperate Lakers

As for those ever-so-confusing Lakers, what an adventure it's been this year.

Frank Vogel is still trying to figure out his rotation, even throwing in LeBron James for stretches as their center, which screams "I'll just throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks."

The Lakers are the worst team in the NBA against the spread (7-16-1), just 12-12 SU on the year, and are watching a season with title aspirations slip away with each passing day.

It may be time to put more of the offensive burden on Anthony Davis, who's averaging almost 26 points a game on 54-percent shooting over his last seven games. LeBron needs to see his minutes go down, because when you're 37 years old, you don't need to be playing almost 37 minutes a game with two other stars along side of you. Vogel says he's "monitoring" James' minutes, which really translates to "I need him out there until Russ and Anthony can figure out how to carry this team without LeBron," or something like that.

James isn't really the biggest fan of "load management," but the reality is, if your plan to bring in Westbrook to help manage how much LeBron plays doesn't work, well, you're kinda screwed at this point.

The Celtics seem to have a little more figured out at this point, while the Lakers have turned this first quarter of the year into an extended preseason, and it's not going well.