LOS ANGELES – One month into their NBA midseason revival, the Los Angeles Clippers will mark the occasion by returning to the matchup where it all began with a visit from the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday (Friday morning, Singapore time) at Inglewood, California.
The Clippers were 6-21 on the season when they turned one of their better defensive efforts into a 103-88 victory on Dec 20 over the Lakers. The win sparked the current 13-3 surge that has the Clippers thinking about the play-offs again.
While defeats have been rare of late, the Clippers return home following a 138-110 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday. The stumble, on the second night of a back-to-back scenario, came as the Clippers gave up their third-most points in a game this season. The defense has allowed 108.3 points over the 16-game uprising after allowing 117.0 points over the first 27 games.
“Going 2-1 was a good trip for us but I thought this game, on a back-to-back, really caught up with us,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “We were tired. We were slow. We’re already slow, but even slower.”
Kawhi Leonard has led the charge of late but he did not play on the road trip because of a left knee contusion. He is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game. In his last 13 games, he averaged 32.7 points.
John Collins has been key over the recent run, scoring 15.2 points over 13 games since Dec 20, including three games of at least 22 points in the past eight contests.
The Lakers started a run of eight consecutive road games with a 115-107 victory at Denver on Tuesday as the Nuggets played without Nikola Jokic (knee).
Luka Doncic had 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in his fifth triple-double of the season so he will once again be a threat alongside LeBron James.
“Luka, you can’t turn the engine halfway with him,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said.
“Once the engine’s on, like he’s in kill mode. And it’s on me as a coach to make sure that everybody else is involved, and it’s on him too, on the court, to make sure of that. And truthfully, I think he’s done a phenomenal job of that the last couple weeks.”
Lakers guard Austin Reaves (calf) remained out for the 13th consecutive game. Reaves’ timetable for a return remains vague, but he is expected back at some point over the current stretch of road games. He has been ruled out for Thursday.
While the Clippers won their home game against the Lakers last month, as Doncic departed in the first half with a leg contusion, it was the host Lakers who won the first matchup 135-118 on Nov 25 when Doncic scored 43 points and Reaves had 31.
Meanwhile in NBA action on Wednesday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points, dished out 11 assists and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a dominant 122-102 road victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Elsewhere, the New York Knicks snapped their four-game losing streak with a record-breaking 120-66 obliteration of the Brooklyn Nets, the most lopsided victory in franchise history.
Jalen Brunson scored 20 points as the Knicks romped to a 54-point margin of victory, eclipsing their previous biggest winning margin of 48, achieved in 1968, 1972 and 1994.
In other news, gambler Timothy McCormack became the first person sentenced in the wide-ranging NBA gambling scheme that involves players Jontay Porter and Terry Rozier.
McCormack, who used nonpublic information to place significant wagers on prop bets involving players implicated in the scheme, was sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding sports betting platforms. REUTERS
NBALos Angeles LakersLos Angeles Clippers