What we learned from the LA Clippers’ win over the Lakers
Despite the absence of Paul George, the LA Clippers took down the Los Angeles Lakers on opening night behind an impressive effort from Kawhi Leonard.
The LA Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers each played the first game of their respective regular-season schedules last night, though if you didn’t look at a calendar, you would have thought this game was taking place in May.
The crowd was raucous, social media was on fire, and a postseason feel was present in Tuesday night’s meeting between the Clippers and Lakers, which the Clippers won 112-102, despite the absence of their second star, Paul George.
It didn’t always look like the Clippers were going to have the edge, especially at the very beginning of the game. With LeBron James and Anthony Davis running the show, the Lakers jumped out to an early 13-2 lead less than four minutes into the game. Much like the preseason, a slow start was again hurting the Clippers — only this time, it mattered.
The Clippers didn’t let that get to them, though, as they closed the first quarter on a 20-12 run to make it a three-point game going into the second frame.
At that point, it wasn’t clear who was going to be the hero for the Clippers. Lou Williams and JaMychal Green were leading the way in scoring with six points apiece, and Kawhi Leonard wasn’t far behind with four of his own.
The two-time Finals MVP took matters into his own hands in the second.
The Clippers had a supercharged second quarter, rattling off 40 points and connecting on 12 straight field goal attempts. Overall, they shot 77.0 percent from the floor in the 12 minutes that preceded halftime.
Leonard was at his best during this period of time. Not only did he score 16 of LA’s 40 points in the frame, but he assisted on a few buckets as well. The first half ended with an Ivica Zubac bucket that came from the hands of Leonard, and the Clippers went into the locker room up 62-54.
It was a back-and-forth battle after halftime, as the Lakers outscored the Clippers 31-23 in the third quarter to tie the game up at 85 heading into the final 12 minutes of action.
Ultimately, though, it was the Clippers that came out on top.
LA held the Lakers to just 17 points in the fourth quarter, with James and Davis combining for a whopping two points over that stretch of time. Meanwhile, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell continued to do their thing, and Patrick Beverley went absolutely insane on both ends of the floor (more on that later).
Leonard would finish as the game’s leading scorer, putting up 30 points in his official LA Clippers debut which went about as well as anyone would have expected.
The first one is in the books, Clipper Nation. Now let’s find out what we learned from this victory.