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Lakers Highlights: Clippers Beat LeBron-Less Lakers Via Kawhi Leonard Triple-Double

The Purple and Gold still leads the Clips in their season series, 2-1.
Alex Kirschenbaum|
Lakers Highlights: Clippers Beat LeBron-Less Lakers Via Kawhi Leonard Triple-Double
Lakers Highlights: Clippers Beat LeBron-Less Lakers Via Kawhi Leonard Triple-Double

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Los Angeles Lakers

Against the loathed LA Clippers, your Los Angeles Lakers put up a noble effort without All-NBA forward LeBron James, who missed just his fifth game of the year with an ankle ailment.

D'Angelo Russell and Anthony Davis did what they could against the Clippers, but ultimately All-Star Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard's second-ever career triple-double, plus solid contributions from the team's three other future Hall of Famers, proved insurmountable at the end of the day.

In the game's opening quarter, the Lakers center was his team's go-to offensive presence, while Clips point guard James Harden helped propel his team to a two-possession edge, 35-29. Both players finished with 10 points by the end of the frame.

Things got ugly during the second period. The Clippers put on an offensive, clinic, scoring a whopping 42 points in the quarter. The Lakers offered very little defensive resistance against the Clippers' multifaceted array of scorers, though they were able to score pretty handily, too, scoring 35 points of their own. 

Rui Hachimura, switched to power forward for the absent James (Taurean Prince was inserted into LA's starting lineup as the club's three), showed off his still-tantalizing, still-not-completely realized two-way promise at times, as with this rejection of a fast breaking Westbrook lay-in that became a fast breaking Hachimura slam.

The Clippers led at the break by double digits, 77-64.

Thanks mostly to the efforts of Russell and Davis, the Lakers managed to mount a rally in the third quarter, getting within four points at one juncture. The Purple and Gold outscored the Clips slightly, 33-29, to shrink the lead to 106-97.

A concerted two-way effort from D-Lo at the top of the fourth got the Lake Show within two points. Our guy even blocked a James Harden layup try!

But the Clippers wouldn't be denied, and eventually the talent deficit on the Lakers' side exhausted their best efforts:

Darvin Ham and Ty Lue pulled their starters with just under a minute remaining in the bout, and the final margin was a double-digit Clippers victory (covering the contest's projected 9.5-point spread), 127-116.

With the loss, the Purple and Gold falls to 22-23 on the year (and 2-1 against the Clips) and remain in the Western Conference's ninth seed, but tonight's contest was truly a valiant attempt. LA deserves to hold its head high. The Clippers are cresting right now, and the Lakers just didn't have enough multifaceted firepower to combat them without their best three-level scorer.

Davis wrapped up the night with 26 points on 12-of-20 shooting, 12 rebounds, and two dimes. Russell logged a game-high 27 points on 9-of-21 shooting from the floor (4-of-10 from beyond the arc), 10 assists, five rebounds and one critical block at the top of the fourth quarter that temporarily tipped the scales in the Lakers' favor.

Four other Lakers registered double-digit scoring nights -- all three other starters (Taurean Prince, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves) and reserve power forward Jarred Vanderbilt. 

Meanwhile, the Clippers improve to a 28-14 record, and find themselves just 1.5 games behind the West's top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. Leonard finished with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals, two blocks, and a team-high +15 plus-minus. Five other Clipps scored in double figures. Harden scored 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting (4-of-8 from deep) and 10 dimes. Westbrook wrapped up with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field (and a stunning 3-of-3 from distance) and six rebounds. George, Norman Powell and Terance Mann all notched 17 points.

The good: the Lakers' offense was humming. LA shot 48.9% from the floor and 34.4% from long range on decent volume (the Lakers actually took five more triple tries than the Clippers, although the Clippers were more efficient, making three more of their attempts). As usual, the Lakers enjoyed a distinct free throw shooting attempt edge, in this case getting a whopping 10 more foul shots up (22 to the Clips' 12). D'Angelo Russell in particular continues his excellent January play, as the Lakers look to feature him ahead of a possible trade.

The bad: LA couldn't stop anybody defensively, and the team's scoring got choppy when the game got close late. The Lakers went away from feeding Davis let for some reason, and became more reliant on jumpers. The Clippers shot a bonkers 59.1% overall (52-of-88) and 51.9% from three-point land (14-of-27). The Lakers' perimeter defense proved porous, and although Davis, D-Lo, and Hachimura had their moments deterring opponents at the rim, the Lakers could not consistently stave off the Clippers' elite post scoring. All told, the Clippers connected on 34-of-52 shooting from inside the painted area, while the Lakers connected on a below-average 30-of-61 from the same range.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Currently also a scribe for Newsweek, Hoops Rumors, The Sporting News and "Gremlins" director Joe Dante's film site Trailers From Hell, Alex is an alum of Men's Journal, Grizzlies fan site Grizzly Bear Blues, and Bulls fan sites Blog-A-Bull and Pippen Ain't Easy, among others.

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