LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics 108-107 at the Staples Center in LA on Tuesday night. The Celtics are top of the NBA's Eastern Conference standings.
In this dramatic game, the Celtics were all over the Lakers during the first half. However Kyle Kuzma helped the Lakers overcame an eight-point deficit by the end of the third quarter and kept their lead to the final second of the game.
With 5.7 seconds left on the clock and the Lakers up by one point, forward Caldwell-Pope missed both free throws after the Celtics intentionally fouled him. The young player managed to recover and made a big stop on the Celtics guard Marcus Smart, forcing Smart to miss a last-ditch three-point attempt.
The Lakers recorded the poorest free throw percentage in a single game in NBA history when they only converted 14.3 percent of their free throws in a win over the Pacers on Saturday. They almost threw away victory on Tuesday by making only 21 of 36 free throws. The Lakers also missed four free throws in the game's final 20 seconds.
Kuzma caught fire in the fourth quarter where he scored 17 out of his 28 total points on the night, including a key three-pointer that gave the Lakers a late lead.
Kyrie Irving scored 33 points for the Celtics, 12 of them in the fourth quarter.
With the win, the Lakers are 18-29 while the Celtics fell to a 34-14 record.
