After beating the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers were back in action on Friday when they hosted the L.A. Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.
These two teams split their first two meetings of the season at Intuit Dome, and the Lakers grabbed the third game with an inspiring 106-102 victory.
Kawhi Leonard hit a pair of triples to get the Clippers off to a quick start before Austin Reaves connected from deep for the Lakers. James Harden then got in on the action for the Clippers though as JJ Redick was forced to call an early timeout with the Lakers trailing 17-7.
Reaves and LeBron James both made 3-pointers out of the timeout to keep things getting away from the Lakers early. The Clippers then went cold from there while James heated up, cutting the deficit to 25-24 at the end of the first quarter.
James had a three-point play to begin the second as the Lakers took their first lead. Dalton Knecht then got hot from deep and all of a sudden the Lakers were up nine and it was the Clippers that needed a timeout.
The Lakers’ bench provided them a huge spark by playing with consistent energy, which was much needed on the second night of a back-to-back, especially with Reaves being ruled out due to a calf injury.
Kris Dunn was carrying the Clippers offensively, but the Lakers still took a 59-54 lead into the halftime locker room.
Gabe Vincent started the third quarter in Reaves’ place and kicked off the scoring with a 3-pointer. The Lakers got a little sloppy with the ball from there though and the Clippers took advantage with some fastbreak points to regain the lead.
As has been the case since he joined the Lakers, Doncic’s jumper wasn’t falling. He went into attack mode though and was getting layups and free throws to carry his team’s offense for a stretch. The Lakers then had a strong close to the third quarter to take an 83-77 lead.
Sensing the game was there for the taking, James had back-to-back buckets to begin the fourth. Doncic then came back in the game and picked up the slack with a pair of triples to stretch the lead to double digits.
The Clippers immediately responded with an 8-0 run to keep it close, although a couple of steals led to two easy buckets for the Lakers in transition.
The Lakers’ defense came up big down the stretch, forcing some turnovers on Harden to help close out a big victory.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will be back in action on Sunday night when they host the Clippers again in the fourth and final regular season meetings between these two L.A. rivals.
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