LOS ANGELES — For most of the season, the Lakers have dominated the league’s worst teams and struggled against most teams around or higher than them in the standings.

This was evident by their 12-1 record against below-.500 teams and 11-17 mark against teams above .500 entering Thursday.

But the Lakers flipped the script, at least for one night, and they did so against one of the league’s best teams, pulling off a dominant 117-96 victory over the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics at Cryto.com Arena for their best win of the season.

The Lakers (24-18) controlled the game against the Celtics (31-14) early with their defensive switching, limiting Boston’s league-leading 3-point shooting for most of the competitive portions of the game.

And on the other end, the Lakers got contributions from around the board.

Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots in 31 minutes. LeBron James had 20 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in 30 minutes.

Austin Reaves added 23 points (7-of-13 shooting, 4 of 8 on 3s), six assists and three rebounds.

Dalton Knecht (13 points) and Gabe Vincent (12 points, four assists) combined for 25 points off the bench.

The Lakers didn’t allow the Celtics, who entered Thursday averaging 117.7 points, to score more than 25 points in the first three quarters.

A Jaden Springer 3-pointer right before the final buzzer gave the Celtics 28 points in the fourth.

Kristaps Porzingis led the Celtics with 22 points and seven rebounds.

Jaylen Brown had 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists while All-Star forward Jayson Tatum finished with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.

The Celtics, who average a league-most 49.1 3-pointers attempted per game, shot 14 of 41 from beyond the arc.

The Lakers, who average the third-fewest 3s, made 15 of their 35 attempts from beyond the arc.