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While James was quick to squash the narrative that the Lakers' 117-96 win over the defending champion Celtics meant anything beyond a regular season victory in January, it's no secret that the Lakers have been on a heater as of late.

The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics on Thursday, with Bronny James getting some playing time. How many points did he score?

SportsLine's model just revealed its NBA picks and predictions for Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night

Anthony Davis scored 24 points, Austin Reaves added 23 and the Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 117-96 victory over the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.

The Lakers and Celtics, of course, are longtime bitter rivals. The rivalry came to a head twice in Pierce's Hall of Fame career in the NBA Finals, with the Celtics capturing the title in 2008 and the Lakers defeating the Celtics in '10.

Also, after not losing a single game by double digits from the start of the season through the end of December, the Celtics have since suffered defeats of 13, 13, 17 and 21 points, all in their last 10 games. Those also were the only games this season in which Boston failed to score 100 points.

The Boston Celtics recently had a back-to-back in Los Angeles. They overcame the Los Angeles Clippers but fell to the Los Angeles Lakers. However, during their time in the City of Angeles, Jayson Tatum found some time to make an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

The duo broke down multiple players' comments, including Kristaps Porzingis' who had been arguably the Celtics' best player throughout the game. You can watch the full podcast episode by clicking on the embedded link above.

On Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics will face off in California. For the game, both teams have announced their injury reports (updated