The Los Angeles Lakers return home tonight after a seven-game road trip to take on the Los Angeles Clippers in a Christmas night showdown. Check out our live recap:
1st Quarter
D’Angelo Russell, Nick Young, Luol Deng, Julius Randle, and Timofey Mozgov started the game for the Lakers while Raymond Felton, JJ Redick, Paul Pierce, Luc Mbah a Moute, and DeAndre Jordan started for the Clippers.
Both teams started out trading baskets as Felton did a nice job of running the Clippers offense in Chris Paul’s absence. After a couple of baskets by the Lakers, the Clippers went on a little run behind baskets by Redick and Mbah a Moute to take a 20-12 lead midway through the quarter.
Jordan got his second dunk of the game after Jordan Clarkson missed a transition three-pointer and the Clippers quickly passed the ball up the court to Jordan. Mozgov cut the Clippers lead to six when he hit a midrange jumper.
Redick got his rhythm going when he connected on a deep three-pointer, his second of the quarter, and an easy layup when Russell got the ball stolen from him on the offensive end. After a Lakers timeout, Clarkson scored on a put back miss from himself to momentarily stop the Clippers momentum.
Thomas Robinson got his first basket when he connected on a free throw line jumper to cut the lead seven points with fewer than two minutes remaining. Before the quarrier ended Lou Williams delivered a drifting floater and Robinson scored a running floater as time expired.
The Lakers trailed at the end of the first quarter, 31-27.
2nd Quarter
A Lakers turnover to start the quarter ended in an easy layup for Felton who quickly raced down to court before any Laker could get back defensively. After taking the ball out from side court and Clarkson missed a corner three-pointer, Brandon Ingram hustled his way towards the basket for a put back slam dunk that lead to a Clippers timeout.
After a Marreese Speights three-pointer out of the timeout, Ingram responded by taking the ball coast-to-coast for an and-one to cut the lead to five points. Williams hit his first three-pointer of the night when Robinson delivered a nice screen on Felton to free up Williams for an open shot.
Ex-Laker Brandon Bass, got his night started by hitting a turnaround shot and slam dunk to give the Clippers a see-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the quarter. Felton continued his strong play by hitting a running floater to give him eight points on the night. Nick Young hit his second three-pointer of the night off a pass from Russell, but that was countered by the Clippers’ Jamal Crawford when he connected on a driving floater over the Lakers big men.
A Lakers miss led to another Redick three-pointer when Crawford found him wide open in the corner to extend the Clipper lead to eight points with fewer than three minutes to play. Young connected on another three-pointer to bring the Lakers within three points.
The Lakers trail at the end of the second quarter, 58-55.
3rd Quarter
The Lakers started the quarter on an 11-0 run to take a 66-58 lead, leading to a Clippers timeout. Deng delivered two nice blocks on Mbah a Moute to get the crowd on their feet that led to Mozgov getting fouled and hitting two free throws on the ensuing possession.
Redick got the Clippers going when he hit his fourth three-pointer on the night to cut the Lakers lead to nine points. A Clippers turnover led to an easy dunk for Young giving him 13 points in the game. On the next Lakers possession, Deng cleaned up a Young miss to up his point total to 11 points.
Another Clippers turnover led to a Randle dunk to give the Lakers a 16-point lead. Mozgov once again cleaned up a Lakers miss to increase their lead but was countered by a DeAndre Jordan dunk on the other end. After an Austin Rivers miss, Lou Williams caused a foul on the Clippers and hit both of his free throws.
Crawford responded for the Clippers by driving into the lane for a difficult layup. After trailing at halftime by three points, the Lakers outscored the Clippers 34-16 in the third quarter for a 89-74 lead heading onto the fourth quarter. Mozgov led the team with 19 points.
4th Quarter
Rivers and Speights each drained a three-pointer to begin the quarter for the Clippers to bring them within nine points. After a Lakers turnover, Ingram fouled Crawford on a three-point attempt. Crawford made all his free throws and on the next Clippers possession, Speights was fouled and made his pair of free throws to bring cut the lead to four points.
Williams ended a 13-0 Clippers run by hitting a free throw. Deng continued his strong play by grabbing another offensive rebound and hitting two free throws after getting fouled on the put back attempt. Clarkson capitalized on a Clippers turnover by racing down the court for a contested layup to give the Lakers a nine-point lead.
A nice Rivers layup for the Clippers was countered by a Russell three-pointer off a pass from Young to stop the Clippers momentum. Ingram scored his first points of the half after using his height to rise above his defender to give the Lakers a nine-point lead. After a Clippers missed shot attempt, Williams dribbled his way int the paint for a layup to increase his point total to 12 points.
Russell used a nice fake behind the back pass to score a layup to give the Lakers a 13-point lead to with fewer than three minutes to play. Crawford scored his 20-point of the night by knocking down a pull-up three-pointer.
The Lakers had seven players score in double figures, led by Young’s and Mozgov’s 19 points apiece. The Lakers use a strong second half to beat the Clippers 111-102.
