The Clippers led from tipoff against the Lakers, extending their win streak to 3 despite a dominant performance from LeBron James.
Summary
To kick off the third installment of this season’s battle for LA, the Clippers came out hot with determination and defense. They played with an urgency that they often lacked to start games (maybe Paul George wasn’t lying about urgency starting), which was as refreshing as it was rewarding, as they forced the Lakers to call a quick timeout with a quick 9-0 lead.
While I wish the Clippers were able to shut them out for the rest of the game, all good things must come to an end. LeBron continued his brilliant play getting the Lakers quickly back into it with a few scoring bursts. Unfortunately for him, the Clippers decided to increase their 3 point sliders. While they initially only started 1-5 from deep, they ended up raining 3s finishing the quarter 7/13 from downtown, capped off by a Mann buzzer beater.
Overall, the Clippers played some inspiring defense (minus some containment issues against former Clipper Wenyen Gabriel) along with disciplined offense for the first 12 minutes. They limited themselves to a single turnover and they clearly made it a point to get into their sets much more quickly.
The Clippers, who are a notoriously awful 2nd quarter team, thankfully didn’t let up. While they were definitely sloppier this quarter, their offense stayed hot and they played some phenomenal defense with highlight blocks on Westbrook. This quarter was definitely dominated by the stars as PG finished the half with 17/6/3, Kawhi added 12/5, LeBron had 17/7/2, and Norm had 14/3/2 (yes, you heard me).
Though the Clippers insane 3 point shooting is not necessarily sustainable (15/23 from downtown is a bit out of the question), the process on both ends looked excellent. They played with an urgency and cohesiveness that we’ve been asking for all season long. They ended the half up 77-54 with some big Norm buckets going into the half.
Now, you might ask, when is it time to say, “Classic Clippers?” Well, welcome to the third quarter! The Clippers started the third with an injury (classic). Marcus Morris took a shot to the ribs in the 1st quarter and was ruled out for the 2nd half with a rib contusion. From there, the Clippers played with more of a lull (also classic) and their turnovers started to add up (classic yet again).
The Lakers, who just mounted a 25 point comeback in the 2nd half against the Blazers, took full advantage of the Clippers weak start to the half. LeBron especially capitalized on this as he continued to snipe from downtown, drive to the basket, and nail some tricky and-1s to rack up 14 points in the quarter. While the Lakers were able to cut the lead down to 14 with some great chances at getting even closer, the Clippers settled down and were able to string together some consistent runs of their own to push the lead back to 16 to end the quarter.
While the Clippers began the half with a bit of a lull, they came out hot with much better play to start the 4th. Unfortunately for them, basketball is a game of runs and LeBron James is… well, LeBron James. He’s arguably the greatest player ever, and apparently he decided he would also shoot like Steph Curry tonight. LeBron single handedly willed the Lakers back into this with 15 points in the 4th quarter, including 3 3-pointers leading to a career high of 9 3-pointers. (For those keeping track, this gave LeBron 46 points, meaning he finally broke the 40 point barrier against the Clippers.)
The Lakers shifted gears and cut this one down to 10 with some incredible play, but as mentioned before, basketball is a game of runs. The Clippers roared back with a quick 8-0 run in a 45 second span sparked by some defensive intensity of their own, and this was enough for Darvin Ham to raise the white flag. The Lakers head coach called a timeout and subbed in his bench unit at the 5 minute mark. Fortunately, the Clippers did not introduce any unnecessary tension as they sailed to victory the rest of the way with a 133-115 win. That bumps their current win streak up to 3, and their current win streak against the Lakers up to 10.
Game Notes:
- Paul George was great, but let’s keep PG as his initials: Paul George was absolutely phenomenal tonight. He hit big shots, had important defensive plays, and was aggressive on the boards. He ended the night with 27/9/4, but also a team high 4 turnovers. Now, 4 turnovers isn’t egregious, but he once again showed signs of why he may not be the point guard this team needs. PG continues to have sloppy handles, often times dribbling directly into traffic, and even sloppier passes. Some of these included tough entry passes (which the entire team struggled with), a pass off Zu’s head, and a lob straight into the 4th row well out of reach from a wide open Reggie Jackson.
- Role Players dominating their roles: Speaking of Reggie Jackson, he looked absolutely phenomenal tonight finishing with 19/5/3. He played within himself, knocked down open 3s, and looked much more spry and comfortable out there. Powell also looked fantastic with a hyper efficient 22/4/4 on 12 shots. The questionable fit between the two seems to be sorting itself out as they build chemistry and get more reps together.
- Kawhi continues to impress: Not much to say here, but Kawhi continues to look more and more like his former self. He adds a much needed level of stability to every lineup with consistently good defense and very well rounded offense. He finished the night with 25/9/3/2/2.
- LeBron James: That’s it… that’s the game note! In all seriousness, there’s not much more that needs to be said about him. He looked absolutely incredible tonight. The man was on a mission and while the Lakers came up short, he carried them the entire game with 46/8/7 with a career high 9 3s. While it would have been awesome to prevent him from finally scoring 40 on us, the win is far more important.