The Battle of LA always produces moments, and today’s game was one of the latest. The game was a tale of two halves, but LeBron James, again was the game-changer for the Lakers. James scored 35 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists in his quest for an overtime win against his nemesis. The Lakers returned from a 19-point deficit to beat the Clippers 130-125.
To tag along James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell scored 27 points, who usually fail to turn up in the second half. D’Lo was the igniting fire for the Lakers, as he was the main guy who pushed a 19-point comeback at the start of 3rd Quarter. This win snapped an 11-game losing streak for the LA Lakers against the Clippers. Austin Reeves also impressed with his performance in overtime to seal the Lakers' Fate.
Lebron James mentions, “At this point in my career, [Reeves] trusts me to go get it, so I just wanted to go up there, and I understand how much of a momentum play those are, especially coming off a turnover, we get a good fast break,” James told reporters afterward.
“And obviously, Magic [Johnson], Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], and those guys created ‘Showtime’ and things of that nature, so you just want to try and keep that going. These fans love the fast break here to finish it with an alley-oop at that point in time and have us go up by five, have them call a time-out, the crowd keeps going … big-time momentum plays for us, and happy to be on the side where they are.”
The Clippers missed a chance of being 4-1 for the Regular Season
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George along with Russell Westbrook were on a role in the 1st half where they led by 19 points and were on the verge of a blowout against the Lakers. The duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George leading the way. Leonard ended the game with 38 points, six rebounds, and five assists while George added 35 points and six rebounds.
“We played hard,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “We just didn’t play smart at times. (Poor) shot selection, and (we needed to) keep our turnovers down a little bit. I can’t fault the effort.”
Westbrook scored 24 points and had four steals, providing much-required defensive support. After Harden and P.J. Tucker were formally acquired by the Clippers earlier in the day in a multi-player trade with Philadelphia, Tucker played 21 minutes without scoring in his Clippers debut. In the four days leading up to the Clippers' next game, Harden will gradually get back into playing form. Still, the franchise already has faith in the Los Angeles native and 2018 MVP to work well with its three current superstars who are from Southern California.
In the first quarter, Leonard scored a career-high 18 points, making seven of his eight attempts, including four 3-pointers. For the next two quarters, the Lakers gradually pulled ahead before taking it back late in the third.
The Clippers suffered their second defeat of the year while playing without James Harden, who was acquired in an official trade from the Philadelphia 76ers earlier on Wednesday.
