Lakers lose Classic in Boston and are keeping an eye on LeBron

Falling just short of a big comeback, the Los Angeles Lakers lost 111-101 Saturday night to archrivals Boston Celtics and fear possible LeBron James may be out due to a major injury. 

“King James,” 40, left the court at Boston's TD Garden with six minutes remaining and went straight to the locker room. Shortly thereafter, the Lakers confirmed that their leader would not return to the game as he suffered a groin strain.

After the game, LeBron tried to downplay the significance of an injury that, according to an ESPN report, could keep him off the court for weeks.

"There's not a lot of concern," he told reporters in a serious tone. "Obviously I'm going to take it day by day, seeing if it gets better. We'll take the appropriate steps."

A long-term absence for LeBron, who shined with 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, would be a major blow to the Lakers' aspirations, which has been revitalized since the February arrival of Luka Doncic.

The Slovenian shined again with 34 points against the Celtics, who had top scorer Jayson Tatum with 40 points.

"It's an honor to be part of the tradition between these two teams. The NBA is a better place when the Lakers and Celtics are doing well," Tatum said of the hot streak between the two franchises with the most wins in NBA history.

The defending champion Celtics came out victorious in this high-scoring game and ended the Lakers' streak of eight straight wins.

The Los Angeles team dropped to third place in the Western Conference, ahead of Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets.

After a spectacular and evenly matched first half, the home team took a 22-point lead. 

But the Lakers, with their flaming new pair, launched a spectacular comeback that put them just four points behind (96-92) with less than five minutes on the clock.

The loss of James and the Doncic’s physical problems diminished the visitors' options and Tatum and Jaylen Brown (31 points) left the victory at home.

Curry's 25,000 points

In other games Saturday, the Golden State Warriors strung together their fourth straight win by beating the Detroit Pistons 115-110 in a game briefly interrupted by a fire alarm at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California.

Stephen Curry scored 31 points to surpass the 25,000 mark for his remarkable career, in which he led the Warriors to four titles  

Curry, 36, is the 26th player in history to reach that scoring milestone.

Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks lost 111-109 at home to the Orlando Magic despite 37 points from Giannis Antetokounmpo and 26 from Damian Lillard.

The Atlanta Hawks, meanwhile, won 120-118 against the Indiana Pacers with 36 points from point guard Trae Young.