The Los Angeles Lakers took home the win on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena, splitting the crosstown rivalry series. The wildcard Clippers looked to pull off a great comeback win, but the Lakers held on 125-122.
The first half was dominated by the Lakers. Up by 10 almost the entire time, the Lakers star players began gelling again after early injuries prevented strong team chemistry. Guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves along with forward LeBon James showed out Friday, finding their groove to produce a solid performance.
Doncic had a night. In the first quarter alone, he had four 3-pointers and 17 points, going 16-for-17 before finishing the game with 38 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.
Right behind him, his other seasoned player counterparts also had a night. Reaves went 9-for-15, scoring 29 points. James didn’t have a predominantly impressive stat sheet, but his presence was enough. He had 13 points along with 11 assists, but only had two points in the second half.
But it was the Clippers comeback in the second half that proved they were a force to be reckoned with, narrowing down the Lakers 15-point lead to three.
Kawhi Leonard went to work, going 11-for-19 shooting, 4-for-6 on 3-pointers and 5-for-5 on free throws. The All-Star had 21 points in just the first half, ending the night with 31 after he was taken out due to an ankle injury with 5:10 left to play.
Alongside Leonard, shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin had 26 points and seven rebounds. The new addition to the Clippers’ roster helped keep the late game momentum going, however, he fouled out with 1:49 to go when Reaves drew his sixth foul.
With 46 seconds left, Clippers’ Derrick Jones Jr. scored on back to back possessions, trimming the Laker lead to 123-120. But Doncic sank two free throws with 21.2 seconds left to push the Lakers to a five-point lead.
However, that didn’t stop the Clippers in their tracks. With the score at 125-122, LeBron threw a risky cross-court pass that was intercepted and stolen by Clipper Nicolas Batum. However, Batum misses a crucial 3-pointer with four seconds left to propel the Clippers.
The Clippers have now fallen to 27-29 on the season with the Lakers moving to 34-21. They fell just short of getting back to their perfect .500 record after their horrible 6-21 start to the season.