The Los Angeles Lakers took on the crosstown rival L.A. Clippers on Friday night in their third of five games in the Las Vegas Summer League.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, their loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday night essentially ended any hopes of them leaving Las Vegas with a championship trophy.
These final few games still serve a purpose though as players have the opportunity to impress the Lakers brass in hopes of making the parent team or G League team.
Against the Clippers, the Lakers got back on track with an 86-84 win to move to 2-1 in Las Vegas and 3-2 overall in their Summer League games.
The Lakers have largely struggled offensively this summer and that was again the case to start this one as they shot just 7-of-26 (25%) from the field in the first quarter. They did play some solid defense though and hit a couple of timely threes to take a 17-16 lead through one.
That same defense was there in the second quarter, although the Lakers started hitting some shots as well to open up a bit of a lead. The biggest highlight was a baseline dunk by Trevelin Queen to start a three-point play as he continued his impressive summer.
Then to end the half, Austin Reaves put up a long 3-pointer just ahead of the buzzer and drilled it to give the Lakers a 44-37 lead going into the locker room.
Reaves got going offensively a bit in the third quarter, the only problem was that so did Brandon Boston Jr., who worked out for the Lakers in the pre-draft process. Boston helped cut the Clippers’ deficit to 61-57 through three quarters.
There was a lot of back and forth in the fourth quarter but the Lakers were able to hang on for the win, winning the Summer League battle of L.A.
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