On January 20th, Beijing time, the NBA regular season welcomed a focus battle, the Los Angeles derby, with the Clippers hosting the Lakers. Prior to this game, the Lakers had a record of 22 wins and 17 losses, ranking sixth in the West; the Clippers had a record of 23 wins and 17 losses, ranking fifth in the West. The data shows that in the last 15 encounters between the two teams, the Lakers only had a record of 3 wins and 12 losses, but in the last 4 encounters, the Lakers had a record of 3 wins and 1 loss. The Clippers have been in great form recently, winning their last three games by 11 points over the Heat, 59 points over the Nets, and 29 points over the Trail Blazers. However, the team's schedule is very tough, playing against the Lakers today, followed by the Bulls tomorrow, and then back-to-back games against the Celtics and Wizards in two days, with four games in five days! According to Tyronn Lue, Leonard still has a playing time limit of 20-25 minutes.
In addition, the Clippers are also involved in many trade rumors, such as Portland's Robert Williams and Grant. The Clippers need to strengthen their power forward position, as Derrick Jones is not tall enough and Leonard does not want to play at the four. The team still needs to improve. On the Lakers' side, although their record looks good this season, there are many problems. First, the bench scoring has slowly dropped to the bottom of the league, secondly, Anthony Davis lacks aggression on both ends of the court, especially defensively, where his body language suggests he doesn't want to play center. The Lakers still rely on the 40-year-old LeBron James to support them, but the good news is that Vanderbilt is about to return. Before the game, Harden's career total score was 26,700 points, just 10 points short of Robertson in 14th place.
In the game, the Lakers started with Reaves, Christie, Hachimura, James, and Davis; the Clippers started with Harden, Powell, Leonard, Derrick Jones, and Zubac. At the beginning of the game, Hachimura scored a layup and Davis hit a mid-range shot, followed by Reaves breaking through for a layup. Powell responded with 7 points from inside and outside, while Derrick Jones and Zubac dominated the Lakers' basket. In the middle of the quarter, James and Harden exchanged three-pointers, with Leonard also adding firepower from beyond the arc. James converted a layup and Christie hit a three-pointer to help the Lakers score, but Zubac continued to cause damage, leading to a timeout for the Lakers. In the latter half of the quarter, Davis made several strong attacks, but Powell scored individually, along with Harden's three-pointer, helping the Clippers pull away. At the end of the quarter, Reaves hit a three-pointer to stop the bleeding, and the first quarter ended with the Clippers leading the Lakers 32-26.
Entering the second quarter, Batum hit a set three-pointer, Leonard made an unstoppable mid-range shot, and Reaves teamed up with Vincent to slowly catch up in scoring. James made a tank-style layup, but Powell hit a crucial three-pointer, followed by Porter's consecutive individual plays that forced another Lakers timeout. After the timeout, Porter continued his three-point shooting, with Christie feeling good from outside. Leonard continued to score easy baskets, followed by a light layup after training Vincent. In the latter half of the quarter, Harden and Zubac began a two-man show, with the Lakers quickly falling behind by 15 points. At the end of the quarter, Harden continued to assist Coffey with a dunk, while Reaves and Davis made consecutive free throws to slightly stop the bleeding. At halftime, the Lakers trailed the Clippers 49-64. The Lakers' bench only scored 4 points in the first half, while the Clippers' bench scored 16 points.
In the second half, Hachimura hit a three-pointer first, followed by Harden holding the ball and making a half-court shot, and Zubac added a putback dunk. Powell made a layup, Derrick Jones had a powerful dunk, and hit a three-pointer off an assist, with the Clippers pulling away to a 21-point lead! The Lakers' interior defense was virtually non-existent, as Powell drove to the basket without Davis even attempting to block him, appearing very passive. In the middle of the quarter, Harden continued to feed Leonard, while LeBron James had a thunderous dunk and assisted Hachimura with a layup. Leonard made a beautiful right-handed hook shot after a backstep move, followed by training Finney-Smith. Harden added another three-pointer, and Zubac made a putback, with the Clippers once leading the Lakers by 26 points! At the end of the quarter, the James-Davis duo took turns making jump shots, Hayes had a ferocious dunk to vent his frustration, and Kennard also hit a three-pointer, with the Lakers making a small run.
After three quarters, the Lakers closed the gap to 77-92. In the decisive fourth quarter, Powell helped the Clippers score another 4 points, while James kept feeding his teammates, leading the Lakers to close the gap to just 11 points. In the middle of the quarter, Harden continued to feed Zubac for a 2+1, followed by another three-pointer that forced a Lakers timeout. However, Hachimura and James teamed up again to close the gap to around 10 points. In the final 4 minutes, Zubac made a putback, Powell scored a layup against the defense, James made a mid-range shot and assisted Hachimura for a three-pointer, while Zubac continued to dunk, forcing the Lakers to concede early! Ultimately, the Clippers defeated the Lakers 116-102, welcoming their fourth consecutive victory.
Lakers' stats: James with 25 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists, and 3 steals; Davis with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists on 14-of-5 shooting; Reaves with 14 points and 3 assists; Hachimura with 19 points and 7 rebounds. Clippers' stats: Harden with 21 points, 4 rebounds, and 12 assists; Leonard with 19 points and 4 assists; Zubac with 21 points and 19 rebounds; Powell with 22 points and 4 rebounds; Jones with 9 points and 4 rebounds. Leonard reached a milestone with his career total score surpassing 14,000 points, while Harden's career total score surpassed Robertson, moving up to 14th in history.
