Los Angeles Lakers’ Alex Caruso stops the Boston Celtics and saves the workforce within the last seconds

The final chapter of the legendary Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics rivalry featured LeBron James and Anthony Davis on one side versus Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the other. However, the visiting Lakers managed to win 96-95 on Saturday, thanks in large part to the hustle and bustle of one role-player, Alex Caruso.

“One of the best defensive games of the year,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel after Caruso saved LA on the track by missing a golden opportunity for the Celtics.

Caruso was stationed on the wing beyond the 3-point line when Kemba Walker was credited a block on Davis with 10.8 seconds to go, who knocked the ball away from the tall man as Davis got on the trail.

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Walker’s distraction caused Davis to hit the ball in the air as he tried to regain it, but Walker corrected it first, giving the Celtics a chance at a quick break to win the game.

Before Walker even took possession of the ball, Caruso turned his body to face the basket at the far end of the court. As soon as Walker started pushing the ball forward and passing it to a grazing Brown, Caruso fell back into a dead sprint on defense.

“As soon as the ball appeared in the air, regardless of whether we get it back or not, I somehow went back on the defensive just because we taught ourselves,” Caruso said afterwards.

Caruso overtook Brown up to halfway where Walker’s push-ahead pass was directed and got a hand on the ball before Brown could.

This defensive kick not only dissolved the undisputed result for Brown, but when Brown gained possession, Davis and Dennis Schroder were also able to return to the defensive.

“Every time you have sales, all you want to do is flinch to come back and get the game back. That’s exactly what we did,” said James. “It started when AC came back and we all formed some kind of wall.”

Brown worked the ball around, and Walker had no choice but to do a 12-foot pull-up. After Schroder Walker had suffocated in defense, the shot missed by 2.7 seconds. Daniel Theis’s putback attempt, 0.5 seconds ahead, also fell off the sidelines and LA held on to win.

Caruso said he initially played a defensive game, “expecting the worst in hopes we would get the ball back and get a shot” but it worked out far better.

“Just being in the right place at the right time,” he said.

It is Caruso’s pieces that got him time as part of the Lakers’ final line-up. On a night when Vogel cut his rotation from 11 to 9 and Markieff Morris and Wesley Matthews were on the bench for the entire game, the coach retained his confidence in Caruso.

“That’s part of what the ‘play harder than your opponent’ identity is,” said Vogel. “Whose team defends harder. Whose team runs offensively on the ground. Who sprints back defensively harder. The attitude sprint versus jogging.”

The fourth-year guard who never quit college and was once a G League regular is the ninth highest paid Laker, making $ 2.75 million this season. But Caruso has shown his skills when the game is at stake.

“He’s a smart player,” said Davis. “He’s not the highest paid or [doesn’t] all have awards or credentials. Many people do not notice him. But he’s playing right. He locks himself defensively, makes hard shots, scratchy. “

While Caruso only had two points, three rebounds and one assist on Saturday, his plus-minus was the team’s best plus-14 in 20 minutes.

Davis said Jared Dudley warned him after LA’s loss to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday that Caruso has been plus-minus of plus-29 in his five losses and has not been minus in any of those games.

“I’m a very, very competitive guy and it comes down to the most important thing at the end of the game,” said Caruso. “So I don’t really care about the start, points and stats. I care a lot about winning. The fourth quarter, the end of the game, is the time of winning.

“A lot of times when I get out of timeouts, I just say, ‘It gains time.’ I’m going to go to a player, say it out loud. Let everyone lock in and everyone know what’s going on. For me, that’s my favorite part of the game. “