Clippers ‘get moving’ and show championship-contending skills in dominating Lakers
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue stood in front of his bench and yelled loud enough for his words to carry over the piercing bass line and artificial crowd noise that was the soundtrack to the latest battle between Los Angeles’ professional basketball teams.
“Get moving!” Lue said.
Both teams were Sunday in a game the Clippers’ won 104-86. His team continued its climb into the NBA’s top third defensively while the Lakers, without LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond, continued a slow slide down the standings that soon could pick up speed.
On that play, the Lakers were zipping the ball around the perimeter, probing for a place to attack with Clippers defenders scrambling from one spot to the next while the shot clock peeled off one second at a time.
As the ball found its way to Dennis Schroder directly in front of the Clippers’ bench, the team’s coaches and reserves, including an injured Patrick Beverley, howled as the Lakers point guard heaved a shot from the corner.
It missed — most of the Lakers’ shots did Sunday — and Lue pounded his hands together.
The Lakers begin a trip Tuesday and return home April 15, but coach Frank Vogel said there’s no telling when LeBron James or Anthony Davis will play.
The Clippers have offensive firepower to spare, Rajon Rondo debuting Sunday for a team that is torching nets despite playing without Beverley and fellow starter Serge Ibaka. But in the second half of their season, they’ve focused on getting better elsewhere, focusing on stops more than scores.
Sunday, they held the Lakers to a season low in points. The Lakers needed garbage-time buckets to nudge themselves to 40% shooting from the field and 30.4% from three-point range.
The Clippers finished the game ranked 10th in defensive efficiency, one of four teams to have a top 10 offense and defense. The other three are Utah, Milwaukee and Phoenix.
“We came out aggressive,” Clippers star Paul George said after his team snapped a two-game losing streak. “We came out refocused.”
Defense hasn’t been an issue for the Lakers, even with Davis and James still out and no timetables for their return from injuries. While the Clippers opened the game hot, making nine of their first 11 shots, the Lakers did more than enough on that end of the court to win.
But since James sprained his ankle, the Lakers have struggled to put the ball in the basket against good teams, their offensive rhythm easily broken as missed shots pile up.
Highlights from the Clippers’ 104-86 win over the Lakers on Sunday.
Center Marc Gasol, who likely will be headed back to the bench when Drummond returns, was the only Lakers starter to score more than 10 points. And he had 11. Backup center Montrezl Harrell had 19 against his old team and Talen Horton-Tucker had 16, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“Defensively, we’ll be all right. We’ll compete, challenge most opponents,” Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma said. “But offensively, we’ve got to find ways to play together and put points on the board. You can’t win games scoring in the 80s and 90s.”
He’s not exaggerating.
Heading into Sunday, teams have won only 29 games scoring fewer than 100 points. And if you’re in the 80s, it’s even harder — only three teams have won games without scoring 90.
Seven of the Lakers’ next 10 games come against teams with top-12 defenses since the All-Star break. While the Lakers aren’t looking at the standings yet, their loss puts them just half a game ahead of Portland for sixth in the West and three games ahead of Dallas in seventh.
“The guys that are playing have what it takes to get the job done,” coach Frank Vogel said. “It’s that simple.”
Sunday, it was the Clippers making everything look easy.
On their way to trouncing the Lakers in the fourth quarter, Kawhi Leonard got to his spot inside the paint, jumped over Markieff Morris and flicked in a mid-range jumper.
As Leonard backpedaled down the court, Lue nodded his head while Vogel called a quick timeout. The Clippers were getting scores and stops, while the Lakers were again left to wait for players they need back sooner than later.
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