The Los Angeles Lakers were back in action on Monday night, taking on the L.A. Clippers in their third game of the Las Vegas Summer League.
The Lakers split their first two games, including an easy victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night. They looked to build off that momentum in this one, but they weren’t able to as the Clippers pulled away late to claim a 67-58 victory.
Plenty of Lakers players were in attendance, including LeBron James, Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton, Jake LaRavia, Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaxson Hayes. With that being the case, Bronny James made sure to get off to a nice start in front of his Lakers teammates by making his first triple and then a layup.
Outside of Bronny though, the Lakers couldn’t get much going offensively early with the Clippers taking a 15-10 lead. Cole Swider got going with a triple, but the Lakers still trailed 22-13 at the end of the first.
James returned to start the second and got his team going again by getting to the free throw line and hitting another pair of 3-pointers. Dalton Knecht then got going offensively as well to get the Lakers within one at the end of the first half, 32-31.
The Lakers’ run continued into the second half with DJ Steward connecting from deep to give them the lead. Offense was scarce for both teams in the third quarter though with the defenses stiffing up inside. The Clippers were able to get out in transition to regain the lead and took a 48-43 advantage into the fourth quarter.
With the Lakers in dire need of offense, Swider got going with five straight points. James then buried another triple to complete an 8-0 run and tie the game.
James and Swider continued carrying the offense as the game remaining tied going into the final couple of minutes.
It wasn’t until the final minute that the Clippers pulled away as the Lakers got some good looks from deep but could not knock them down. Knecht had a chance to cut a five-point deficit to just two in the final minute and his miss essentially marked the end of the game.
Bronny had his best game of the summer, finishing with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists on 6-of-10 shooting.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will next take the court on Thursday at 6 p.m. against the rival Boston Celtics. From there, it will be determined if they make the Las Vegas Summer League playoffs and if they don’t, they will play one final exhibition game on Saturday or Sunday. With now two losses on their record, it’s extremely unlikely that the Lakers will make the postseason.
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