Every game this century between the Los Angeles Lakers and L.A. Clippers had been played at Crypto.com Arena until Sunday night when the two teams squared off at the brand new Intuit Dome in Inglewood for the first time.
The Lakers were looking for their third straight while the Clippers were looking for their fourth. Something had to give and ultimately it was the Clippers who came out on top with an easy 116-102 victory to drop the Lakers to 22-18 on the season.
Norman Powell got the Clippers off to a good start with seven quick points although LeBron James responded with back-to-back triples. James Harden then had a four-point play though and Kawhi Leonard got in on the action from deep, forcing a timeout by JJ Redick with his team down 18-12.
Anthony Davis began to make his presence felt offensively from there but Harden and the Clippers stayed hot to take a 32-26 lead at the end of the first.
Powell stayed hot to begin the second quarter while Kevin Porter Jr. heated up as well, extending the Clippers’ lead to double digits for the first time.
The Lakers were struggling offensively with some careless turnovers and were in dire need of a spark to end the half. They were able to get anything going though as the Clippers continued pouring it on to take a 64-49 lead into the locker room.
Not much changed for the Lakers to start the third quarter as they continued to commit costly turnovers. Meanwhile, Ivica Zubac continued to dominate the offensive glass and all of a sudden the deficit ballooned to 26.
To end the third quarter, the Lakers finally mounted an 11-0 run with Davis and Dalton Knecht leading the way offensively. After James beat the buzzer with a layup, the Lakers cut their deficit to 92-77 going into the fourth quarter.
James continued the Lakers run into the fourth as they quickly got the deficit to 11 with a chance to make a run at it. Unfortunately, Zubac continued to punish the Lakers down low. Austin Reaves then had a costly turnover and Harden turned it into a triple to put his team back up by 17.
With the Lakers unable to stop the trio of Zubac, Harden and Powell, the Clippers would go on to close the game out easily at Intuit Dome.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will now return to the other side of town to host the Washington Wizards on Tuesday and then the Boston Celtics on Thursday.
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