Three reasons why the LA Clippers will beat the Lakers on Christmas

The LA Clippers already won without PG

When these two teams first met on opening night, LA Clippers fans had to temper their expectations. While the Los Angeles Lakers had both of their stars, the Clippers only had Kawhi Leonard — Paul George was still recovering from the two shoulder surgeries he underwent over the summer.

It was a back-and-forth contest. The Lakers controlled the first and third quarters, but the Clippers used strong showings in the second and fourth to down the Lakers 112-102.

Leonard had a masterful performance, recording 30 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in 31 minutes of action. LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 43 points, 19 rebounds and 13 assists and each played at least 36 minutes.

The Clippers won the game because of their bench, though. Montrezl Harrell, Maurice Harkless, Lou Williams and JaMychal Green combined to score 60 points — eight more than the Clippers’ starters recorded.

Things should go differently now that George is back in the rotation. They’ve been an infinitely better three-point shooting team when he plays and have gone 15-6 in games he’s appeared in.

Like I said before, both of these teams have improved since they last met. But it’s easy to argue that the Clippers have improved more than the Lakers have in that time since they’ve added one of the top-10 players in the league.

This alone isn’t reason enough to believe that the Clippers will win tonight, but it certainly helps their cause.