The LA Clippers play the Los Angeles Lakers tonight on opening day. They need to come out swinging immediately against their rivals.
We’re finally back! It’s the opening day of the 2020-21 regular season, and the LA Clippers are facing off against the Los Angeles Lakers.
There’s plenty for fans of the Clippers to be looking for in this game, and very little of it has to do with the end result. I’m not going to pretend I don’t want very badly to beat the Lakers, but the Clippers are still finding themselves a bit, and it’s important to look for signs that they’re moving in the right direction.
That said, I want to see the Clips come out firing in this game. On opening day of last season, they came into a game against the Lakers that they were expected to lose – Paul George was missing, while the Lakers were playing at nearly full strength.
Instead, they landed punches from the opening tip, and came out on top. If they want to replicate that game and grab an important win in the first game of the season, they’ll need to be at full speed from the jump.
Last season, Kawhi and PG rose to the occasion in the Battles for LA, with the Klaw averaging 30 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists on .51/.44/.90 shooting and George averaging 26/5.3/3 on .49/.42/.86 shooting.
The stars will need to show up again, and we’ll need to see some solid bigman defense from the duo of Ivica Zubac and Serge Ibaka, who will be tasked with slowing down Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell.
We’ll also be seeing how the new additions of Luke Kennard and Nicolas Batum can help offset the losses of Landry Shamet and JaMychal Green. Kennard will be looking to prove that the contract the Clippers gave him was a good idea, and that he’ll be a long term part of the core for the LA Clippers.
The Clippers and Lakers tip off at 10PM EST, 7PM PST this evening. Be sure to follow along on social media for all the play by play analysis and bad jokes you can handle, and check back here after the game for more LA Clippers coverage!