Lakers 116 - 127 Clippers summary, stats, and scores | NBA
Kawhi was unstoppable all night, starting the game a perfect 8/8 from the field and registering just his second triple double of his career. With no LeBron, Kawhi picked apart the Lakers defense scoring 25, grabbing 11 rebounds and dishing 10 assists to give the Clips their 20th win in the last 24.
The bench came up big for the Clippers who had 43 points come from players not in Tyron Lue's starting five. Westbrook had 16, and Normal Powell led bench scoring with 17.
The LA Clippers won their first game over their intercity rivals on Tuesday night from Crypto.com Arena. Kawhi Leonard had only the second triple double of his career as the Clips took down a LeBron-less Lakers side 127-116.
Harden got things rolling in the first half dropping 20 points and dishing five assists but Russell Westbrook came off the bench and played some big minutes against his old team. He had 16, 6 and 3 and drilled this three ball with only one shoe after it fell off earlier in the play. The rest of his 13 points he scored with shoes on both his feet.
IT'S ALL OVER!!!
Powell with the lay up high off the glass and the Clippers are going to take this one and win their first game of the season over the Lakers.
Maxwell Lewis hits the lay up as the starters for both teams have come off the floor.
Harden at the line after the foul on Vanderbilt and he hits one of two FTs with 2:05 to go.
Leonard gets to his spot and drops it from the FT line!
AD got the double team and he lobed it over the top for Vanderbit for the alley oop.
Coffey nails the three ball after the kick out from Kawhi and he's got a triple double after that assist.
Reaves takes Kawhi off the dribble and he gets the reverse to go!
Timeout Clippers with 3:45 to go!
Vanderbilt to the line after snagging the offensive rebound and he hits both after the foul on Harden.
Leonard to the line after the foul on Russell and he hits both FTs.
Powell with a tough runner in traffic! He had two defenders on both sides but still dropped it in the lane.
Leonard stole it at halfcourt and dumped it off to George for the lay up.
Timeout from LA with 6:46 to go!
Powell had to let it go with the clock winding down and he drills the corner three!
Russell with a big block on Harden at one end and he finds Prince for the transition bucket!
Powell on a quick step to the bucket and the lay up on the left side.
Russell comes out of the timeout and he hits the fader on the baseline! It's a two point game here from LA!
Timeout Lakers with 9:48 as Reddish goes limping to the locker room after twisting his ankle.
Wood puts it on the deck and he gets the floater in the lane.
Wood on the lay up and he gets the bucket and the foul! FT is no good after the foul on Theis.
George with a drive to the right side and he lays it off the glass.
Prince starts the quarter off with a three ball after Westbrook tried to save it under his own basket.
Coffey drills the three ball from the wing to beat the buzzer and send the Clippers to the final quarter up 9!
Reddish open in the corner for three after the Clippers were slow getting back!
Westbrook drills a second three ball in the last couple minutes off the Theis offensive board and the lead is back up to nine!
Reddish fouled by Westbrook but he misses both FTs.
Davis follows the missed lay up from Russel and gets the tip in to go.
Vanderbilt gets the shot in traffic to fall.
Hachimura called for a goaltend on the Westbrook finger roll.
Wesbrook was left open from the corner and he drills the long ball!
Davis had Harden on him and spun baseline for the slam.
Kawhi hits the FT after the break. He's got 21, 7 in the third quarter.
Kawhi going strong to the rack, he gets the lay up and the foul!
Timeout LAL before the FT with 4:39 to go in the third.
Russell hits Reaves at the top of the key and he drills the three ball!
Kawhi was draped by defenders but fought through to hit the FT line jumper.
Russell with the pull up jumper over Harden and he is over 20!
Mann streaking down the left side and he gets the lay in to fall after hanging on the rim.
Reaves with the dump off in the lane and Hachimura got the jumper to fall.
Prince drops the three ball from the top of the key!
George with the pull up from the FT line and he's getting the hot hand.
Davis on the lay in and he needs to keep his momentum going from the first half.
George with the three ball from the top of the key after Harden found him open.
Davis on the offensive board and the put back after the missed Prince lay up.
Hachimura gets into the lane and drops the fade away.
George with the rebounds and he takes it iron to iron for the lay in.
Harden fouled on the three pointer by Reaves and he hits two of three FTs.
Russell with the tip in off the missed lay up from Hachimura in transition.
Timeout Clippers a minute and a half into the third quarter.
Russell drills the three ball in the corner over Plumlee who was all over him!
Kawhi to the FT line and he drills the mid ranger. He's 8/8 from the field tonight.
Russell to the line to start the third quarter and he hits both FTs after the foul on Harden.
WE ARE BACK IN PLAY FROM LA FOR THE SECOND HALF OF ACTION!
George got into the action, but he's taken a back seat to Kawhi and Harden in the first half. He's got 6, Harden has 20 and 5 assists and Kawhi has 14.
The Clippers scored 42 points in the second quarter, many of them came off transition buckets like this one from Westbrook.
Westbrook came off the bench and provided some big energy towards the end of the first quarter. He's got 8 points, including this three ball he hit without his shoe!
With no LeBron the Lakers are going to need to find some way to make up the nearly 25 points on the bench. Vanderbilt and Hachimura are two of the guys that have to step up. Hachimura has 7 and Vanderbilt has 6.
That first half was a battle of the point guards. You had Harden on one end and Russell on the other. Harden got hot and never cooled off during the first half.
Prince to the cup, he gets the runner to go AND 1! FT is good and that will take us to the halftime break!
The Clippers lead by 13 after two quarters. The Lakers have their work cut out in the second half with no LeBron.
Harden on the step back from the elbow and he is over 20 on the night.
Mann drills a three ball and he's in double digits for the night!
Davis follows up the miss from Reaves and he gets the put back to fall.
Harden with the dish down the lane for George who gets the easy lay up.
Russell spots up from the mid range and he has been money tonight.
Leonard with the lay in and he remains perfect from the field tonight.
Davis fighting for the rebound and Russell got the board, dished it to Reaves across the lane and he put it up and in.
Mann to the line and he hits one of two after the foul on Vanderbilt.
Cutting to the iron was Kawhi and George hit him for the easy lay up.
Harden steps back from downtown and he drills the three ball from the wing!
Davis on the give and go with Reaves who got it back to him for the slam down the lane.
Russell with a no look lob for Davis on the alley oop!
Harden with the rebound on one end and he goes coast to coast for the lay up!
Leonard drills the pull up jumper from right outside the lane.
Vanderbilt at the line after the foul on Theis and he hits both FTs.
George shakes Vanderbilt on the perimeter and soars to the rack for the slam!
Timeout Clippers with 6:00 to go in the first half.
AD with the short jumper from right outside the lane.
Mann drives baseline and he double clutches to the bucket.
Reaves with a deep three ball from the top of the key!
Theis with the lay up AND 1! FT is good after the foul on Hachimura.
Hachimura threw it up on the baseline as he was falling to the ground and he somehow gets it to go.
Coffey with the steal and he hits Mann who eurosteps his way to the bucker for a lay up.
Russell finds Reddish on the move and he gets the lay up to fall.
TImeout Clippers with 8:31 to go in the 2nd quarter.
Powell with another jumper in the lane and he's starting to get into the action.
Russell punches back with a three ball of his own off the step back!
Coffey drills a three ball from the top of the key!
Hachimura skies to the iron after the Russell dish and he throws it down!
Wood to the line after the foul on Theis and he hits both.
Powell with a short jumper from in the lane.
Russell wiggles to the lane and finishes with a finger roll.
Harden off the bench and back on the board. He drills the three from the top of the key and that's three for him already.
Wood to the line after the Coffey foul but he misses both!
Russell pulls up from the mid range and drops it. He's been hot lately. Let's see if he keeps it up tonight.
Powell gets the floater to go and he hits it in the paint.
Hachimura lost it and Russell scooped it up for the steal and slam!
We are at the end of the first and the Clips lead by 6. Harden got off to a hot start with 10 points. AD had 10 of his own. We are just getting started here from LA.
Wesbrook with a strong drive, gets the lay up AND 1! FT is good and that's how the first quarter is going to end!
Russell to the FT line after the foul on Coffey and he hits one of two.
Westbrook lost his shoe, kicked it to the sideline and drilled the three with one shoe on!
Wood in the paint and the post pass down to Vanderbilt leads to an easy slam.
Kawhi on the jump hook from the baseline and that was money.
Reddish fouled on the lay up by Theis and he hits one of two FTs.
Vanderbilt with the slam after Reddish found him slashing to the bucker.
Kawhi gets to the FT line and hits that mid range jumper.
Reddish in the corner for three off the dish from Russell!
Powell off the bench, gets the rebound on one end and goes coast to coast with the lay up.
Clippers running the break and Plumlee finds Harden for the three ball in the corner and he's got 10 first quarter points!
TImeout Lakers with 3:44 to go in the 1st quarter.
Reaves slipped on his drive, it hit off Vanderbilt and fell to AD for a jam.
Vanderbilt with the outlet pass for Davis and he finishes with a slam after he was slow to get back on defense.
AD at the line and he hits both FTs after the foul on George.
George puts it on the deck, takes the contact from AD and hits the short runner of the glass.
Kawhi from the FT line with the shot clock winding down.
Reaves puts his head down and drive to the basket for a lay up on the left side.
Russell at the line after the foul on Mann before the break and he hits both FTs.
Harden pulls up with a three ball from the top of the key!
That takes us to our first timeout with 6:52 to go in the first quarter!
Harden puts it on the deck and finishes from with a lefty lay up.
Davis hits another deep two pointer and that will keep this LAC defense honest.
Mann's off to a good start, he's got 7 after a lay in around the cup.
Harden hits the step back from the elbow and he is on the board.
Hachimura drills a three ball from the top of the key and that's what the Lakers need to see from Rui with LeBron on the bench.
Mann slashing to the rack and he slams it home after the Leonard assist.
AD opens up his account with a deep two off the feed from Russell.
Mann responds with a wide open three ball on the wing!
Russell drills a three ball after Hachimura pulled down the offensive rebound and kicked it out .
Kawhi drops the mid range jumper to get the scoring started tonight.
WE ARE UNDERWAY FROM LA!!!
With no LeBron it's Rui Hachimura that gets plugged in to the starting five. He and another starters, D'Angelo Russell, have been in the crossfires of the trade talks and speculation after the Lakers grew stronger as you could see both looking a little blue as the purple and gold blew out the Trail Blazers. It's Rivers, AD and Prince to round out the top five.
Clips starting five
LAC have their top three guys in the starting five tonight. Kawhi, PG and Harden will be the three headed monster, but Mann is going to have a big role as always but Plumlee is going to have his work cut out for him against AD all night.
How the West will be won
After the Lakers last game, they are now back to .500 at 22-22. That’s right around where they have been all season, and LeBron and the rest of LA know that is not going to cut it. The regular season is long, and maybe the Lakers don’t need to be on every night competing for a one seed, but they certainly don’t want to have to go through another Play-In game and at the moment that’s exactly where they would land. The Clippers are climbing up the standings, sitting just two games behind the Timberwolves at 27-14. The Thunder and the Nuggets a nested in between the 1 seed T’Wolves and the 4 seed Clippers, both a half game back of the conference leaders. We are more than halfway through the NBA season, os it’s never too early to start thinking about playoff seeding.
Still in the lab
At the beginning of the season it was up to Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to carry the weight of the Clippers scoring on their back. That still may be the case but they are no longer having to create their own shots as often as they did before James Harden came to LA. They will be the first to admit, things didn’t look pretty out of the gate, but since Harden has settled in to his new surroundings he and his teammates have been growing their chemistry on a night to night basis.
AD's time with no LeBron
LeBron James is going to go down as a top three player by the time he decides his time in the NBA is up. That doesn’t mean that he is hanging it up any tie soon, but it does mean that the 38 year old needs his rest and tonight he will be on the sideline nursing that injured ankle. With that in mind, this has become Anthony Davis’ team but he needs to start acting like it. He hasn’t scored 30+ in six games, and although he has had double doubles in five of those games, he has to bring it every night. He is one of the league’s biggest stars, but he doesn’t always play that way. This team lives on dies on how AD plays and that won't change tonight.
Lakers last game
The Lakers took on the Portland Trail Blazers in their fourth straight game on Sunday night and went wire-to-wire against one of the league’s worst teams. They jumped out to a double digit lead in the first quarter thanks to a stand out performance from D’Angelo Russell who had 34 points in what might be one his last games as a Lakers. LA killed the Blazer on the fast break scoring 35 against Portland’s 8. LA would lead by as many as 27 in the final quarter thanks to LeBron and Russell two combined for the first 19 points to pull away from the Blazers and never look back.
Clips last game
The Clips hosted the Nets on Sunday night, and trailed almost the entire way but a late run gave LA their first lead with under 3:00 to go and they carried that lead to the finish line to win their 8th in the last 10 games. Brooklyn started the game scoring the first 16 points of the game and led by as many as 18 points, but Kahwhi and the Clips turned it on in the final minutes of the 4th quarter. The defense held the Nets to zero points in the final 5:30 minutes and Kawhi scored 15 points in that span, which was as many points as the Nets scored during the final 15 minutes of the fourth quarter.
We are live from the Crypto.com Arena
Hello everyone and welcome to LA where the Clippers have been one of the hottest teams in the league over the last six weeks. James Harden joined forces with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George a couple months ago, and although they got off to a choppy start the the waters have smoothed and the Clips have won eight out of their last ten and and 20 of their last 24. The Lakers might have won the inaugural In-Season Tournament, but outside of that they have been average at best. Changes may be coming in the near future but tonight they have to focus on the Clippers.
Lakers vs. Clippers live
We have a star studded match up in the City of Angeles. LA’s two teams are headed in different directions and will take center stage from the Crypto.com Arena. The Los Angeles Clippers host their intercity rivals the LA Lakers and AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight’s late tip off from Southern California.