{"id":5133,"date":"2025-07-18T09:39:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T09:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/5133\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T09:39:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T09:39:11","slug":"five-takeaways-from-celtics-summer-league-victory-over-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/5133\/","title":{"rendered":"Five takeaways from Celtics’ Summer League victory over Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Summer League Celtics dispatched Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, winning 87-78 to improve to 3-1 in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Here are five takeaways from the victory:<\/p>\n

1. Jordan Walsh regains his composure<\/p>\n

Walsh was whistled for seven personal fouls in the Celtics\u2019 second Summer League game, then was ejected from the third<\/a> after picking up two technicals in a seven-second span. The third-year pro delivered a much more controlled performance in game No. 4, punctuated by a highlight-reel windmill dunk in transition that helped Boston put the Lakers away late.<\/p>\n

It was one of two fast-break slams for Walsh, who also went 2-for-4 from 3-point range to lead all Celtics with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting. He added six rebounds (three offensive), one assist and two steals, finishing with two fouls and no turnovers.<\/p>\n

Walsh was the player of the game for Boston.<\/p>\n

2. Hugo Gonzalez improves<\/p>\n

After enduring some harsh growing pains in Monday\u2019s loss to Miami (3-for-12, 1-for-7 from three, six turnovers, seven fouls), Gonzalez responded well in his third game in Celtics uniform.<\/p>\n

Boston\u2019s first-round draft pick made three of his first four shots Thursday night, including a pair of 3-pointers, to hit double figures before halftime. Gonzalez handled pressure better than he did against the Heat and was effective at attacking the basket without the ball, both as a cutter and as a rebounder (two offensive boards).<\/p>\n

Hustle plays like those are what the Celtics will expect from the 19-year-old in whatever NBA minutes he earns this season. And outside of the one rough outing, he\u2019s also displayed encouraging efficiency as an outside shooter, which was not his strong suit during his time with Real Madrid. Gonzalez, who made just 25.0% of his threes in his final Spanish league season, went 3-for-5 from deep in his Summer League debut and 2-for-4 against LA.<\/p>\n

Inside finishing was a different story \u2014 Gonzalez missed four of his six shots inside the restricted area Thursday \u2014 and he committed a few ill-advised turnovers, but overall, this was a promising bounce-back for Boston\u2019s youngest player. His final line: 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, one block, two turnovers, three fouls in 29 minutes.<\/p>\n

3. More Baylor Scheierman shooting struggles<\/p>\n

Scheierman (nine points, six assists, five rebounds) has made a positive impact as a passer and defender in his second NBA Summer League. But boy, has his shot been erratic.<\/p>\n

The 2024 first-rounder attempted 11 3-pointers in Thursday\u2019s win and made just two of them, continuing a trend that\u2019s persisted throughout his stay in Sin City. Scheierman is shooting an ugly 20.5% from beyond the arc, going 1-for-8, 1-for-7 and 4-for-13 in the three previous games.<\/p>\n

Scheierman, who\u2019s vying for a larger role after breaking out late in his rookie season, was similarly inaccurate in his first Summer League (29.4% from three).<\/p>\n

4. No more Charles Bassey<\/p>\n

Bassey was arguably the best player on the floor in his first two games with the Summer C\u2019s, but he didn\u2019t stick until the end of the tournament. The 24-year-old big man only signed to play in Boston\u2019s first three games due to other commitments, according to the team, so he left the squad ahead of Thursday\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n

Bassey opened Summer League by putting up 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks against Memphis days after joining the team, then had 22 points, 13 boards and three rejections against New York. The Celtics outscored their opponents by 35 points with Bassey on the court over those two games.<\/p>\n

Bassey\u2019s final appearance was less impressive (10 points, nine rebounds, minus-15 in a loss to Miami), but his play in Vegas put him on pundits\u2019 radars as a potential asset for the Celtics\u2019 depleted frontcourt. Boston lacks proven talent at the center position<\/a> after losing Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet and likely Al Horford, with Neemias Queta and Luka Garza currently topping the depth chart.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether the Celtics have any plans to invite Bassey to training camp, where he could compete for a 15-man roster spot. The 6-foot-10 Western Kentucky product spent the last three seasons with San Antonio, appearing in 90 games with three starts.<\/p>\n

5. Kenneth Lofton Jr. stuffs the stat sheet<\/p>\n

With Bassey gone, Lofton was the headline-grabbing big for Boston in this one.<\/p>\n

The MVP of the Chinese Basketball Association last season, Lofton has not been the most consistent performer in his return to NBA action, but he made plays as a scorer and passer against the Lakers, tallying 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting (2-of-4 from three) and five assists, including a heads-up inbounds pass that set up Walsh\u2019s aforementioned windmill.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-6, 275-pound Lofton (who is not related to the former baseball star) also came up with seven rebounds and three steals in his 20 minutes. He coupled those with five turnovers and eight fouls, however, resulting in an uneven but productive outing for the burly 22-year-old.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to see a fit for him on the Celtics\u2019 roster, but Lofton is a fun player with a distinctive offensive style.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 17, 2025 at 11:23 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Summer League Celtics dispatched Bronny James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, winning 87-78 to improve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[1221,1222,49,48,5939,5940,5941,1224,1225,5942,459,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-5133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-baylor-scheierman","9":"tag-boston-celtics","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-celtics-lakers","14":"tag-celtics-summer-league","15":"tag-hugo-gonzalez","16":"tag-jordan-walsh","17":"tag-kenneth-lofton-jr","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}