The buzz of a rivalry game between the NBA’s two most storied franchises burst early Thursday afternoon when the Lakers ruled stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis out due to injury.

Hours later, the Celtics let one of their suddenly easiest games of the season turn into their worst loss.

The performance resembled some of the Celtics’ ugliest ones of the past. Without James and Davis on the bench in street clothes, the Celtics seemed to relax. Their starting five, arguably the best in the league, turned in an embarrassing performance as they let the likes of Austin Reaves, Jaxson Hayes, D’Angelo Russell and other Lakers torch them. There were some moments of resilience, but the Celtics couldn’t overcome their woes in a horrendous 114-105 loss to the Lakers, just their third home defeat of the season.

Reaves erupted for 32 points, including seven 3-pointers, Hayes had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds as he continuously outworked everyone, and Russell had 16 points and 14 assists as the Lakers walked into TD Garden and punked the Celtics. All five of Boston’s starters finished with a negative plus/minus, highlighted by one of Jaylen Brown’s worst efforts of the season.

Jayson Tatum had 23 points and Kristaps Porzingis and Sam Hauser each had 17 in a rare dud for these Celtics, who committed too many turnovers and were out-hustled all night. They were booed at times. They never found an answer, shocking, for the undermanned Lakers.

The Lakers took a commanding 14-point halftime lead after they got hot from long distance and hit 13 3-pointers in the first half, and led by as many as 16 early in the second half. The Celtics needed a spark desperately early in the third quarter and one sequence forced Mazzulla to go in an unorthodox direction. Jaxson Hayes continued to torch the Celtics on the glass and grabbed two offensive rebounds on the same play before finishing a three-point play that put the Lakers up 16 with 9:04 left in the quarter.

With Boston’s starting unit clearly not cutting it, Mazzulla immediately pulled Brown, Porzingis and Holiday out of the game and inserted Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Al Horford. That trio played the rest of the quarter alongside Tatum and one of White or Holiday and had some moments. They trailed 75-59 before a string of 3-pointers brought them back. Tatum’s step-back triple cut Boston’s deficit to six at 77-71. On the Lakers’ next possession, Tatum dove to the floor to force a jump ball with Rui Hachimura. Despite the whistle, Tatum was intent on getting the ball and emerged from the pile with it, which sparked a roar from the crowd.

It looked like it might be a turning point. But the Celtics couldn’t string together enough stops to carve deeper into their deficit and still trailed by 10 heading into the fourth.

The Celtics carved their deficit to six in the opening minute of the fourth after White’s layup. But then Taurean Prince beat everyone down the floor for a layup. Moments later, they went back up 12 after a Hachimura triple.

The Celtics cut it to nine with less than seven minutes to go after a White three. They had a chance to make it a six-point game on their next possession, but Porzingis missed a 3-pointer, and then Hayes beat everyone down the floor and got fouled with 6:05 to go to go up 11. The Celtics never cut their deficit to less than nine the rest of the way.

Other takeaways from the loss:

– As bad as the Celtics were to start the game, they still weren’t in a terrible spot. They committed nine turnovers, allowed 10 offensive rebounds and took 12 fewer shots than the Lakers in the first quarter, but only trailed by three after Jrue Holiday dished three assists – two on 3-pointers from Sam Hauser – and hit a buzzer-beating jumper in the final two minutes to lead a 10-4 Boston run.

– For a second consecutive game, Neemias Queta provided a spark for the Celtics in the absence of Luke Kornet. The Celtics trailed by nine late in the first quarter when he entered the game and he energized them with a dunk. They cut their deficit to three entering the second and Queta was everywhere to begin the period, as he recorded a block and two offensive rebound in the opening minutes – which led to his tip-in and then a Payton Pritchard 3-pointer – to help the C’s take a brief lead.