7/30
Battle Of LA
The Lakers vs Clippers the new top rivalry
in the NBA. Thursday night they squared
off for the 4th Time with the Lakers
winning a very physical game 103-101 on
their DeFacto home court. The Lakers
were lead by Anthony Davis who scored
34 Points, and 8 rebounds on 8-19 from
the field and 16-17 from the Free Throw
line in 35 minutes.
The game was intense from the tip with
Lakers seizing momentum early in the
game jumping out to a 12 point lead to
end the 1st Quarter with Davis getting 14
points and drawing several fouls to hit 8
straight Free throws. Lebron James
struggled to get his scoring going but
contributed on other parts of the Lakers
early run which saw them lead 37-24
early in the 2nd quarter.
The Clippers would wake up after going
down 13 and outscored the Lakers 28-17
With Kawhi Leonard scoring 14 of those
points. The Clippers huge effort to end the
half down by only 2 trailing the Lakers
54-52 going into halftime also Clippers
that was incredible to see because they
also had 12 Turnovers in the 1st half. 30
points combined by Leonard(19) and
George(11) in the 1st half as well so this
would make for an epic 2nd half.
The Clippers came out with all the
momentum to start the 2nd half with Paul
George Catching fire by connecting on 3
three pointers that was the highlight of
14–1 Clipper run that put them up 66-55
with an 11 point switch. This led to a
Lakers timeout.
The Lakers would them start to chip into
sizable Clipper lead that started with
Lebron 3 pointer and then some big effort
plays from Alex Caruso and clutch
Shooting from Dion Waiters and Kyle
Kuzma to cut the deficit to 4 with Clippers
up 68-64. The Lakers outscored the
Clippers 21-11 to end the half but still
down by 1 the score 77-76 going into the
final quarter. Davis had another big
quarter dropping 12 points which included
2 3 pointers back to back late in the 3rd
quarter.
The Lakers kept their hot shooting going
to start the 4th quarter opening up 5
straight 3 pointers to spark a 17-3 run
going up double digits again to take
91-80.
Then the Clippers duo George(30) and
Leonard(28) picked up the pace they left
scoring 16 of the final 21 points the
Clippers would score including 2 huge 3
pointers scoring 8 points in a row to tie the
game at 101 with 29 seconds left in the
opening night thriller.
Then que up Lebron who had struggled all
game with a poor shooting night 6-19
from the field but still managed to get 16
points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists
accompanied by 5 turnovers. This all was
forgotten once he was able to get his own
rebound from a erratic shot over 4
Clippers to connect on a lay up over a sea
of hands.
This was a sweet ending to such an epic
game. It wasn’t at the buzzer though the
Clippers had an opportunity to win the
game but the red hot George missed a
3 pointer at the buzzer due to to give the
Lakers the win on Opening night of the
restart.
My 2 Cents
Lebron was overthinking a ton in this
game which made for some reckless plays
on his end that led to turnovers that kept
the Clippers in the game. Also passed up
several shots when he struggled early to
get in a rhythm but when it came down to
sealing the deal Lebron showed why he is
considered one of the best to ever take
the court.
As Ive said on my show several times over
the past month that AD is key to the ring.
Lebron’s shoulders aren’t tired from
carrying every team he has ever played
for and age is significant even with his
exceptional workout regimen. Davis
answered the call once again the Lakers
leading scorer on the season played like
the guy who can lead this franchise for
the next decade. The poise he played with
was incredible and was able to draw the
majority of the fouls on the Clippers that
included 17 free throws Davis made 16 of
them.
This was key stat as the Lakers went to
the line 37 times making 28 free throws on
the game. This was the difference in the
game. The Lakers converted 11 3 pointers
with 5 coming in the 4th quarter. This
made up for a poor shooting night for the
Lakers who went 32/82 from the field
which was 39.0 percent.
The Defense was physical and forced 20
turnovers but also had 16 of their own in a
gritty game that had a big playoff game
feel to it. The physical game was
something Dwight Howard relished even
though he didn’t score much his impact
was felt in big spots on the defensive end.
The Lakers also had a great contribution
from Caruso on defense who forced some
huge turnovers late and was ready for the
big moment.
The Lakers still need to talk more on the
defensive end there where plenty of
defensive breakdowns in the game tonight
so that will need to be tighten up as the
Lakers prepare for the playoffs.
In conclusion it was an epic game but
both teams know that they need to tighten
up no team wants to have that many
turnovers. This game also had a lot
blown whistles which was 50/50 but still
lots of fouls were called and the Clippers
physicality was their gift and curse
tonight. The Lakers will look to improve
upon this effort next game against the
Toronto Raptors on Saturday(8/1). Lakers
win increases their lead for the top seed in
the West to 6.5 games.
Written By:PopDibiase
