After Sunday’s inspiring performance against the defending champions, Cleveland Cavaliers, the Los Angeles Lakers welcome their cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers, for a showdown. Check out our game recap:
1st Quarter
The Lakers started the game with a lineup of Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, and Ivica Zubac. The Clippers countered with Chris Paul, JJ Redick, Luc Mbah A Mouse, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.
The Clippers jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead behind a couple of baskets by Redick that forced Luke Walton to call a quick timeout and regroup his team. Out of the timeout Redick took advantage of a Ingram offensive foul and turned it into another jumper. With the Clippers having a 16-4 advantage, Zubac scored a midrange jumper to momentarily stop the bleeding.
After Redick picked up his second foul do the quarter, Randle connected on a short jumper off an assist from Clarkson on the Lakers ensuing possession. Griffin showed off his range when he drilled a three-pointer to put the Lakers up 12 midway through the quarter.
The Lakers took advantage of Ingram’s size over Jamal Crawford and fed him the ball down in the post and backed his way toward the basket for the easy basket. On the next Clippers possession Jordan cleaned up his missed shot attempt by finishing with a slam dunk that got his teammates excited.
Russell got his night going when he connected on a 17-foot jumper to bring the Lakers within nine points but Paul responded with back-to-back baskets to bring this point total to 12 points. After a Clippers missed shot attempt, Larry Nance Jr. cleaned up a missed Ingram layup to score the bench’s first points.
Before the quarter ended Austin Rivers beat his man of the dribble and scored a high arcing layup to put the Clippers up 33-24 heading into the second quarter.
2nd Quarter
Crawford got his night going by drilling a long two-pointer and a three-pointer to begin the quarter. Ingram finally put the Lakers on the board when he scored on a layup cut the deficit to 12, but on the next Clippers possession Rivers again drove his way towards the basket and scored an easy layup forcing Walton to call a timeout.
The Lakers struggled mightily to begin the quarter as they saw the Clippers lead balloon to 20 points with eight minutes left in the quarter. After Crawford drilled another shot, Corey Brewer responded with a difficult layup but saw Mareesse Speights connect on another Clippers three-pointer to extend the lead to 25 points midway through the quarter.
Coming out of a timeout, Rivers was able to draw a foul on Russell and made both free throws to give him 11 points so far. On the ensuing possession Zubac scored his fifth basket of the night off an Ingram assists, but the Clippers countered with a Griffin to Jordan alley oop.
After a pair of free thrown by Redick, Ingram and Russell knocked down back-to-back baskets to they and get the Lakers going offensively. DeAndre Jordan showed off his jumping ability when he slammed home the ball off a Mbah A Moute assist. Paul finished off a horrendous first half played by the Lakers when he walked into an open three-pointer to extend the lead to 30 points.
The Lakers trail at halftime, 70-40. The Lakers were outscored 37-16 in the quarter and allowed the Clippers to shoot 56 percent from the field.
3rd Quarter
In a change of events the Lakers started Tyler Ennis, David Nwaba, Corey Brewer, Thomas Robinson, and Tarik Black started the quarter. Ennis scored his first basket of the night when he knocked down a floater over his defender.
Redick scored the Clippers first basket by drilling another three-pointer giving him 16 points on the night so far. Nwaba showed his relentlessness when he battled for an offensive rebound and scored on a putback. After Robinson scored on a cutback attempt, Paul responded with another three-pointer to give the Clippers a 31-point lead.
After Ingram missed two free throws, Redick was fouled on a three-point attempt on the ensuing possession and made all of his free throws to add to the onslaught. Robinson was impressive to start the quarter as he scored 10 points on mostly hustle plays including a nice putback off an Ennis missed shot attempt.
The Clippers took advantage of a Lakers defensive mishap when Redick was left wide open for a corner three that he knocked down to keep the Clippers lead at 30. On the next Clippers possession, the Lakers broke a alley top attempt, which led to a Robinson dunk on the other end of the floor.
Another good defensive play from the Lakers led to a Russell steal and resulted in two points when he got fouled by Rivers and made two free throws. Robinson continued his strong quarter when the Lakers once again broke up an alley oop attempt and took the ball all the way to the basket, but on the ensuing Clippers possession Paul converted a four-point play to extend the lead to 36 points.
Zubac showed his offensive skills when he backed down Speights and used a spin move to score an easy basket. As the quarter came to a close Russell drilled the Lakers second three-pointer of the night, but Jamal Crawford drilled a half-court shot as time expired. The Lakers trail at the end of the third quarter, 108-74.
4th Quarter
The Clippers continued their hot night by continuing to make shots from all over the court resulting a 37-point lead three minutes into the quarter. Randle scored his first basket in a while when he cleaned up a Russell miss and scored on the putback attempt.
Former Laker, Brandon Bass, got in on the fun when he drilled a midrange jumper over Zubac to force a Lakers timeout. After Crawford missed badly on a three-point attempt, Russell responded with a three-pointer of his own on the ensuing possession.
A couple of baskets by the Clippers kept the lead at a comfortable margin even though the Lakers got some baskets to fall. The game was essentially over in the second quarter when the Clippers scored at will and saw their lead extend well above 20 points.
The Lakers defense was nowhere to found as they allowed the Clippers to shoot 53.6 percent from the field, including 15-of-33 from beyond the arc. The Lakers were led by by Ingram who finished with 21 points.
The Lakers fell to the Clippers, 133-109. They will try and rebound on Friday when they welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves into town.
