LOS ANGELES — As Norman Powell’s game-tying 3-point attempt from the right wing hung in the air, LeBron James had one thought.
“Overtime,” James said bluntly.
With the way things have gone for the Los Angeles Lakers recently — and the way things have gone for the Lakers against the LA Clippers for more than a decade — that appeared to be the most likely outcome. But as Powell’s shot rattled out, and the buzzer sounded, the Lakers finally caught a break amid what is shaping up to be a brutal month since winning the In-Season Tournament on Dec. 9.
Advertisement
The Lakers defeated the red-hot Clippers 106-103 on Sunday evening, snapping their four-game losing streak and temporarily restoring order in LakerLand. By winning their first game in more than a week, the Lakers improved to 18-19 and No. 10 in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of the Golden State Warriors. They also notched their second win over the Clippers this season after losing 11 in a row to their hallway foes.
“We played like we needed to win, like it was a must-win,” Anthony Davis said. “Competed on both sides of the basketball. Just kind of build off of it. We know what we have in this locker room. We know what it takes to win and we displayed that tonight.”
Two pivotal stretches stood out as a testament to the Lakers’ impressive grit and resolve.
In the first quarter, the Clippers jumped out to a 16-7 lead, following a familiar script to recent Battle of LA matchups in which the Clippers jump on the Lakers early, forcing the Lakers to play from behind the rest of the way. The All-Star trio of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden presented a difficult matchup, and the Clippers generated a slew of good looks out of isolation, drive-and-kicks and swing-swing plays.
This time, though, the Lakers punched back with a 7-0 run and hung around for the rest of the game, leading for a majority of the final 14 minutes.
The other notable sequence occurred in the fourth quarter, when the Lakers took a 10-point lead, 94-84, with 8:19 left. The Clippers swiftly responded with a 9-0 run over the next 2:03. The Lakers could have easily folded, as they did in the fourth quarter of their losses against the Miami Heat on Wednesday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday.
Advertisement
Instead, a unit featuring the opening-night starting lineup of Davis, James, Taurean Prince, Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell locked in defensively and out-executed the Clippers in crunchtime (Jarred Vanderbilt subbed in for Russell for a stretch). The Clippers made things interesting when they tied the game with 2:19 left after Prince fouled Powell on a 3-point attempt, but Prince responded with one of his biggest 3s of the season at the 1:19 mark, giving the Lakers the lead for good.
After Reaves split a pair of free throws with four seconds left, Powell missed the game-tying shot.
“Guys not dropping their heads, not dropping their shoulders,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “Everybody still continuing to encourage one another, talk strategy, talk schemes, talk play selection. We stayed resilient, through and through.”
In many ways, it was a group effort on both ends. James (25 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) and Davis (22 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and one block) led the offense, per usual, but they were aided by big plays from the supporting cast, particularly in the second half.
Prince made the go-ahead triple off a find from Russell. In his return from a three-game absence due to a bruised tailbone, Russell scored 13 points and six assists and made three 3-pointers, including two crucial treys late in the third quarter as the Clippers regained the lead. Christian Wood had a driving dunk and a putback dunk late in the third as well, helping swing momentum back in the Lakers’ favor.
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 8, 2024
“It takes ‘the others’ to win championships and win basketball games,” Davis said. “And these guys played phenomenal today, tonight. And when these guys are playing well, it just makes me and Bron’s job a lot easier.”
Cam Reddish and Jarred Vanderbilt continue to struggle offensively – to the point that it’s difficult to play either of them, let alone both together – but their collective defense against Harden, Leonard and George was notable. Davis defended every Clipper at some point in the fourth quarter. The Lakers’ defense, which ranked 21st in the NBA since Dec. 9, held the Clippers to 39.6 percent shooting and just 10 points over the final six minutes.
Advertisement
“We said before the game, in our pre-game walk-thru right before the game, just everyone — players, coaches, medical staff — everyone just lock in individually and just do your job,” Ham said. “That’s it. Once everyone pitches in and does their job as long as they can, as best as they can, good things usually happen. That’s what you saw out there tonight — a well-balanced win. Each and every person that stepped on the floor contributed in a variety of different ways.”
GO DEEPER
Darvin Ham has the backing of the most important Laker: owner Jeanie Buss
Though this victory was a step in the right direction, the Lakers’ problems are far from cured. They are 10th in the West nearly halfway through the season. The upcoming schedule, despite being home-heavy until the end of the month, is challenging. Russell declined to speak with reporters after the game. James pointed out that they still had to improve.
“We gotta continue to get better,” James said. “Try to use this to try to catapult a little bit better play from us. But it still doesn’t take away from the fact of how we’ve been playing like the last 11, 12 games. Tonight was a good start. Hopefully, we can start from here and continue to build.”
When asked how Ham has handled the team’s recent ups and downs, James offered a tepid endorsement.
“By just staying and trying to keep us prepared when it’s time to go out and for battle,” James said of Ham.
In comparison, at the end of his availability, James was asked for his thoughts on the “new James Harden-look Clippers.” James took issue with the framing of the question, pushing back to praise his close friend and former head coach, Tyronn Lue.
“They’ve looked great,” James said. “You said it’s the James Harden Clippers? Nah. It’s the T-Lue Clippers. I know T-Lue very well. It don’t take T-Lue long to make sure s— get right. It took him five games and they’ve been cooking since.”
Advertisement
The contrast between James’ answers, even after a much-needed win, was noteworthy considering the shaky state of the locker room. James’ voice carries weight, yet he’s largely refrained from commenting positively or negatively on Ham’s status.
Ham, to his credit, has answered the questions about his job security and performance as well as reasonably possible.
One such example during his pregame media availiability: Ham often refers to the “peaks and valleys” of the typical NBA regular season, highlighting the up-and-down nature of an 82-game slate. After he used those words again, he was asked a follow-up question about whether he knows if the Lakers are currently in a valley or about to fall off a cliff.
“I don’t know …” Ham said while laughing. “I guess the velocity in which I hit the ground.”
The only way out of the Lakers’ current predicament is by winning — and not just one win, but many. Enough to get the Lakers comfortably above .500 and back into the playoff mix.
Saturday’s victory, to James’ point, was a start — and a much-needed reminder they can rise to the occasion against a high-level opponent.
“It doesn’t fix everything, obviously,” James said. “But it helps. But we gotta still learn from the wins more than we learn from losses. Because when you lose, you’re able to look at like, ‘OK, this is why we lost, we have to do this better. We have to do this.’ And then when you win, the first human instinct to do is, ‘Ah, we won. OK.’ But, no. We have to learn from the mistakes we had tonight, which we had too many still.”
(Photo of LeBron James and Amir Coffey: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images)
