The Los Angeles Lakers are feeling merry about the road ahead, while the Los Angeles Clippers have been weighed down with the holiday blues as the cross-town rivals get set to meet in a Clippers home game Saturday at Inglewood, Calif.
With an 11-3 record since Nov. 14, the Lakers are bumping elbows with some of the best teams in the Western Conference. Since LeBron James returned from a bout with sciatica to make his season debut Nov. 18, they are 8-2 with their star on the floor.
The Clippers have been one of the worst teams in the NBA, entering on an eight-game home losing streak. Since Kawhi Leonard returned from ankle and foot injuries on Nov. 23, they have one win in 11 games.
The Lakers unleashed their offense while scoring a season-high 143 points in a road victory against the Utah Jazz on Thursday. Luka Doncic delivered his third triple-double of the season with 45 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.
James just missed out on his own triple-double with 28 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. Austin Reaves sat out his second consecutive game with a left calf strain as Marcus Smart stepped up with 17 points and five made 3-pointers.
Los Angeles shot 52.7% from the floor on 93 shot attempts, their second most in a game this season. They also had a season-low seven turnovers.
“I could do so much more, but I think (my) one turnover is the best on this stat sheet,” Doncic said. “We had seven turnovers, which is impressive for us and we won the game. And again, that’s what matters. We locked in a lot in the second half. We did a great job.”
The Clippers have not won a home game since Oct. 31 and enter off a 122-101 road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday when Leonard had 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
James Harden, who leads the Clippers with 26.0 points per game, did not play with a bruised left calf. John Collins scored 20 points in the loss. Collins is averaging 12.3 points on the season but has raised that to 14.1 points over his last 10 games.
Harden is not listed on the injury report for Saturday’s game.
Without Harden to run the offense, the Clippers committed a season-high 29 turnovers which the Thunder turned into 38 points. Kris Dunn and Kobe Sanders each had six turnovers.
“I thought the way we started was good and we came out with the right intent,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said. “And then their pressure off the bench with (Alex) Caruso and those guys, they really turned their defense up and we weren’t able to handle their pressure.”
The Clippers are toward the bottom of the league with 16.1 turnovers per game.
The Lakers are on a four-game winning streak against the Clippers, while going 7-2 in the series over the past three seasons. That success has come after the Clippers peeled off 11 consecutive victories over the Lakers in a run that started in December of 2020.
