The Clippers led the rival Los Angeles Lakers from start to finish, earning a 119-115 win behind some huge shots and composure down the stretch. Keep reading for a full recap of the Clippers’ victory over the Lakers.
Summary
This game was a tale of two halves. The Clippers, starting big to match the Lakers’ large starting lineup, played with a lot of intensity but saw few results on the offensive end. Their strategy was mostly to let the Lakers bomb away from three, and the Lakers obliged, sending thunderous bricks towards the rim. Some Paul George creation and then Bledsoe pick and roll craft gave the Clippers a double-digit lead, bolstered by exceptional free throw shooting, but a spurt by the Lakers to end the half closed the gap back down to three.
The second half was the opposite, as both teams’ offenses finally got unglued and began creating and making easy looks. For the Clippers, this was all about the Lakers throwing the bulk of their defense at Paul George and Reggie Jackson, allowing the rest of the unit to make open threes or shots at the rim. For the Lakers, it was a lot of Anthony Davis around the rim and Malik Monk as a jump shooter.
The fourth quarter was tense throughout, with Ty Lue cutting the rotation down to nine and playing Morris the bulk of the frame. Isaiah Hartenstein was the key man on offense early, repeatedly punishing the Lakers for going small with LeBron at center. Unfortunately, LeBron at center drew Hartenstein out of the paint, opening the way for Lakers drives and cuts. At the 6:40 mark, Lue re-inserted Reggie and Ibaka, and those two along with George, Morris, and Luke Kennard would close the game out. George had a several minute-long awful stretch of poor shots and turnovers, but the Clippers survived due to some good fortune on Lakers’ misses and capable defense. With the game in the balance, Luke Kennard hit two huge threes, the first off a double on George and the second on great ball movement following Lakers’ help on a Ibaka on Monk mismatch in the post. To cap it all off, Morris banked in a three with a few seconds to go and the Clippers up three, effectively ending the game.
Notes
New Starting Lineup: Ty Lue threw out a new starting lineup, but not the one most Clippers’ fans were anticipating, with Kennard or Terance Mann replacing Eric Bledsoe. Instead, Serge Ibaka joined the unit, giving the Clippers an immense starting unit with George at the two. He said after the game that this unit was strictly to match up with the Lakers, who play big, but I would not be shocked if Bledsoe is out of the starting unit at least occasionally going forward. There’s no question this is the best a Clippers’ starting group has played all season, and while Bledsoe himself played well, and has been good lately, I would like to see him off the bench going forward, at least for a while.
Serge and Marcus Get Going: The biggest reason for excitement for Clippers’ fans, however, has to be the play of Serge Ibaka and Marcus Morris. Both veterans have been out for much of the year, and in the few games they have played, have mostly ranged anywhere from forgettable to awful. Tonight, on the other hand, the vets stepped up, with Morris scoring 21 (7-12 shooting and 6-9 from three) and Serge putting in 9 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists on a tidy 3-4 shooting (making all three threes). While the Lakers being an old and slow team themselves undoubtedly helped, Serge and Morris also looked active on defense and in good enough shape to play big minutes. They won’t play this well every night, but more frequent performances like this will go a long way to getting the Clippers’ offense back on track.
Limiting Turnovers: The Clippers committed only 9 turnovers tonight while dishing 28 assists, one of their best assist to turnover marks of the season (and maybe recent history). They were tighter with their handles, launched less ill-advised passes, and just appeared more connected and cohesive on the offensive end. Now, some of that is as simple as shots falling tonight that haven’t recently, but this was the best and most fluid the Clippers have looked on offense in a while. Keeping turnovers down gave he Clippers at least shots to put up, and also prevented the Lakers from getting out in transition. After games of endless giveaways, this was a marked improvement.
That about does it for this recap of the Clippers’ win over the Lakers. Celebrate in the comments below!
