The Los Angeles Lakers finished up their road trip basically at home on Wednesday night, taking on the L.A. Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers were looking to go 5-0 on a road trip for the first time since 2009.
Despite it being the second game of a back-to-back, the Lakers had their full roster available with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Mo Bamba all playing. They still looked sluggish, however, while the Clippers could not miss, resulting in a 125-118 loss. The Lakers now drop to seventh in the Western Conference standings and no longer control their own destiny to avoid the Play-In Tournament.
Early on, the Lakers looked like the tired team in the second of a back-to-back while the Clippers looked fresh and rested. Russell Westbrook was also out for revenge, starting the game with two assists and a 3-pointers. The Lakers went forced to take an early timeout after going down 15-3.
Russell responded well out of the timeout with a triple, although Westbrook responded with another one of his own. The Lakers eventually settled in defensively and went out on an 13-2 run to actually take the lead.
The Clippers closed the quarter scorching hot from 3, however, so they led 37-31 after one.
James uncharacteristically had a few silly turnovers early in the second with the Clippers getting their lead back to double digits. Guys like Norman Powell, Kawhi Leonard and Eric Gordon all remained hot for the Clippers, while the Lakers continued to look tired.
The Lakers had a chance to cut it to single digits in the final minute of the second, but the Clippers instead went on an 8-0 run to take a 71-52 lead into the halftime locker room. Both James and Davis struggled to get anything going for the Lakers, combining for just nine points.
Leonard came out and drilled another 3 early in the third to extend the Clipper lead to 24.
The Lakers finally came alive from there though as they went on a 19-3 run to get back within single digits. James and Davis finally got going offensively while the Clippers began to cool off.
Powell was the only one that had it going for the Clippers offensively, getting to the free throw line to keep his team’s lead in double digits at 93-82 at the end of the third.
The Lakers needed a good start to the fourth quarter to have any hopes of coming back, but instead, the Clippers made three triples in a row to get their lead back up to a comfortable 17.
Bones Hyland, in particular, had 11 points in the first half of the fourth quarter alone. After Leonard finished an alley-oop, the Clippers’ lead was back to 20 with the game falling out of ready for good for the Lakers.
Despite a valiant comeback effort led by James to get it back to single digits, the Lakers ultimately were not able to get enough stops to make any noise.
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