LeBron James and the Lakers proved on Sunday that the team is capable of beating their crosstown rivals in the playoffs this season, writes BillPlaschke
The Lakers desperately needed a win to convince themselves they could play with the multi-talented Clippers, and now they have it. The Lakers needed evidence that they could beat the Clippers with more than James and Anthony Davis, and now they’ve found it.Avery Bradley scored 24 points. Kyle Kuzma grabbed 10 rebounds. The Lakers forced the Clippers into 16 turnovers while collecting 10 more assists while continually winning the battles in the paint.
The battle of the superstars was a draw — James and Davis combined for 58 points, the exact totals of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. It was everything else that made a difference, the little things that the Clippers usually do to win these kinds of games. The Clippers lost for the first time in 11 games when they’ve been at full strength. The Clippers lost after winning their last six, five against playoff teams, by an average of 17 points.
The Lakers trailed by four at halftime, then outscored the Clippers by eight in the third quarter and held on in a fourth quarter in which James, who scored a dozen in the period, just wouldn’t let them lose. The game was formally clinched in the final minutes on a James layup after which he skipped, hopped and screamed into a Staples Center crowd that, while divided down the middle most of the afternoon, suddenly roared as if it were a Lakers home game.“I’m all for it,” said Clippers coach Doc Rivers before the game. “I just have a feeling for one of us to go where we both want to go, at some point we’re going to be in each other’s way. You have to make that assumption that that may happen.
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