The Los Angeles Lakers have been struggling of late, although they looked to change that when they hosted the red-hot L.A. Clippers on Sunday night.
The Lakers had lost four straight games coming in while the Clippers had won 14 of 16. Those streaks came to an end though as the Lakers were able to earn a 106-103 victory, their second close win over the Clippers in as many games this season.
Taurean Prince got the scoring started with a triple for the Lakers although Paul George responded with a pair of buckets for the Clippers. As has been the case a lot lately, the Lakers struggled to take care of the ball early and the Clippers capitalized to take a 16-7 lead.
LeBron James got the Lakers back on track out of a timeout with a triple and then Prince finished a crafty layup.
D’Angelo Russell returned for the Lakers after a three-game absence and immediately made an impact with a block and an assist. Max Christie then got in on the action from deep to tie the game. The Clippers ended the quarter with five straight, however, to take a 24-19 lead into the second.
While James continued to get going with a pair of buckets early in the second, Russell struggled by missing his first four shots before finally making a layup. Unfortunately, Christian Wood was called for a Flagrant 1 foul on a reckless closeout on Norman Powell, giving the Clippers an advantage.
James Harden and Ivica Zubac did a lot of the work offensively for the Clippers while the Lakers continued to turn the ball over. Austin Reaves finally got involved when he drew an and-one on George, bringing his team back within four going into the halftime locker room at 53-49.
LeBron got the crowd into it early in the third quarter, tying the game with back-to-back three-point plays, including a thunderous poster dunk on George.
Cam Reddish heated up from there, hitting a pair of triples to give the Lakers the lead. The Clippers responded with a run, although Russell finally came alive off the bench with back-to-back triples for the Lakers.
Wood then had a big block and two monster dunks for the Lakers, extending their lead to 81-77 at the end of the third.
The Lakers continued to play with good energy to begin the fourth, rattling off four straight to force a Clippers timeout. Russell stayed hot from there and the purple and gold locked in defensively, stretching the lead to double digits.
Normal Powell hit a couple big shots to get the Clippers right back in it, sending the game into the final stretch extremely close.
Davis went to work from there in what was a rock fight, hitting from midrange to put the Lakers up three as the Clippers called their final timeout.
With Zubac killing the Lakers on the offensive glass all night, he earned the Clippers an extra possession and Prince fouled Powell on a 3-point attempt. After he tied the game at the free throw line, Prince immediately made up for his mistake by draining an open triple.
James then hit a tough running layup, which was big considering Harden responded with a 3 to make it a two-point game with 22 seconds to play. Prince wound up getting fouled and made two huge free throws. After a Zubac layup, Reaves had a chance to do the same and could only convert on one of two. That gave Powell a look at the buzzer, which went in and out to secure the victory for the Lakers and snap the losing streak.
Up next for the Lakers
The Lakers will stay at home on Tuesday night and host the Toronto Raptors, looking to build some much-needed momentum.
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