Before heading back on the road, the Los Angeles Lakers returned home for a matchup with the L.A. Clippers, their first of the year at Intuit Dome.
The Lakers were shorthanded once again in this one without three starters in Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura, plus a key bench piece in Gabe Vincent. Luka Doncic then missed the second half with an injury of his own and the Lakers didn’t have enough offensive firepower, suffering a 103-88 loss to fall to 19-8 on the season.
It was a horrific start for the Lakers as they missed their first seven shots and the Clippers jumped out to a 9-0 lead. LeBron James helped settle the Lakers in with a triple and then a pair of big dunks on nice passes from Jaxson Hayes.
Outside of James though, the Lakers were ice cold while the Clippers were hot from deep to go up double digits.
Doncic had his worst first quarter of the season as he missed his first six shots and had a pair of turnovers. He finally got going with a pair of buckets to end the quarter, but the Lakers still trailed 28-15 at the end of one.
Clippers center Ivica Zubac hurt his ankle early in the second and was ruled out for the rest of the game. Meanwhile, James was in attack mode to chip into the Lakers’ deficit.
But outside of James and Doncic to an extent, the Lakers just couldn’t get anything going offensively, Those two combined for 28 points in the first half but the Lakers only scored 39 and went into the halftime locker room trailing by 15.
It turned out there was a reason Doncic didn’t look like himself in the first half as he was ruled out at halftime due to a left leg contusion. That left the Lakers even more shorthanded and offensively challenged, making a comeback attempt that much more difficult.
With Kawhi Leonard heating up, the Clippers built their lead up to 80-61 going into the fourth quarter.
The Lakers kept fighting as Marcus Smart was fouled on a 3-point attempt and it was upgraded to a Flagrant 1 for a reckless closeout after a review. It wound up being a six-point possession as James then completed a three-point play and all of a sudden the deficit was back to single digits.
The Clippers looked to be tightening up at that point as the Lakers ripped off a 15-0 run. That ended with back-to-back triples by John Collins and James Harden though and then Leonard had a steal and a dunk to put an end to any comeback attempt by the Lakers.
Despite the loss, James had a season-high 36 points in 38 minutes of action.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will now head back on the road for another matchup with the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday before returning home to host the Houston Rockets as part of the NBA’s annual Christmas Day slate.
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