Clippers Win Round Three

It was as dull as your average morning shootaround. Well, maybe not an average Clipper shootaround, but you get the idea.

The Clippers and Lakers played such polite basketball Wednesday that you would swear you heard them saying, “Beg your pardon” as they went through the motions.

Then Corey Maggette went to work on Kobe Bryant in the third quarter, and a decidedly pro-Clipper sellout crowd of 20,309 was up and roaring its approval. Finally, there was something worth getting excited about.

Maggette torched Bryant for 18 points in the third quarter and the Clippers roared past the Lakers, taking a 95-90 victory from their suddenly sluggish co-tenants at Staples Center.

Wednesday’s loss was the Lakers’ second in as many games and fifth in their last seven. The Clippers have won two in a row and are 19-7 at home.

Bryant has been struggling defensively lately, failing to stop Maggette, Voshon Lenard of Denver, Wally Szczerbiak of Minnesota and Ron Mercer of Chicago in recent games.

Maggette scored on long-range jump shots, including four three-point baskets, and on free throws. By game’s end, Maggette had 28 points to 27 for Bryant. Elton Brand added 25 points, taking apart Samaki Walker, his Laker counterpart at power forward. Shaquille O’Neal had 24 points.

“We wanted to make Kobe Bryant defend a little bit,” Clipper guard Jeff McInnis said. “We know if he’s allowed to relax on defense and concentrate on playing offense only, he can go for 40 points every night. He wasn’t the same after that. I don’t know if he was tired or what, but he wasn’t the same.”

The Clippers’ first victory over the Lakers in three games this season was tempered by news that forward Lamar Odom’s injured right wrist will be put in a cast today.

Odom sat out his third consecutive game because of his wrist, an injury suffered Dec. 16 and aggravated during the team’s six-game trip that ended last week. It’s possible Odom could be out until after the All-Star game Feb. 10.

The Clippers soldiered on without their most versatile player, but seemed content to tag along behind the Lakers for most of Wednesday’s game. They were never really buried, but seldom within striking distance.

The end was far different from the beginning.

Bryant took off after one Clipper miss late in the first half, slowed to receive the outlet pass, then all but walked to the hoop to drop in a layup. No monster jam. It was merely an old-school hoop that almost everyone in the sellout crowd could have duplicated.

But it underscored the ease with which the Lakers edged away from the Clippers right before halftime.

The Clippers had drawn within 36-33 after center Michael Olowokandi dunked Earl Boykins’ missed jump shot. Olowokandi and Brand were about all the Clippers had going for them in the first half, but they were still in the game.

Suddenly, the Lakers took control.

Devean George made a three-point basket.

Bryant made a jumper, then another.

O’Neal drove to the basket for an easy hoop.

Bryant scored on his slow break.

After Brand’s jump shot from the wing, Bryant countered with a jumper.

At the half, the Lakers led, 49-35.

Bryant tiptoed his way to 18 points and George added 10 in a reserve role by halftime. George played more than he might have if the Lakers had a healthy Robert Horry, but Horry sat out because of a cramp in his right hamstring.

Olowokandi had 12 points and Brand 10 by the half, but no other Clipper had more than five.

The Clippers depend so much on the energy they receive from reserves Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles that they often increase leads (or cut into deficits) when their second unit is on the floor.

Instead, the Clippers faltered when their subs entered.

The Lakers’ 13-2 run to end the half gave them a 14-point lead going into the third quarter.

Then Maggette took over.

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Slow Descent

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Tale of One City

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