INGLEWOOD, Calif — In the second matchup of the season in the battle of Los Angeles, the Clippers got the upper hand, dropping the Lakers 103-88 on Saturday night in a lopsided affair that saw Luka Dončić exit early.
The loss dropped the Lakers’ record to 19-8 and snapped the Clippers’ five-game losing streak and eight straight losses at Intuit Dome.
The energy and effort were all the Clippers’ off the opening tip-off, with a 9-0 jump to start the game and a mixture of cold shooting displays from the Lakers, missing their first five shots, while Dončić missed his first six.
The Lakers would make just one 3 in the opening quarter and two total (10% shooting) in the first half, which resulted in the Clippers leading by 15 at halftime.
Dončić’s pace would die down within the first two quarters, limping and showing signs he wasn’t 100% whole. He would finish with 12 points on four-of-13 shooting at the half and not return.
“I saw him hobbling toward the end of the first half; he came to me at halftime and told me he couldn’t go,” coach JJ Redick said.
The injury was a left leg contusion, leaving the Lakers down four starters going into the second half with Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura already sidelined.
The offensive load in the second half, along with most of the first half, was carried by LeBron James, who created sparks diving on loose balls and setting a tone on the defensive end with the Lakers’ rotation players.
“No matter what the circumstance is, it’s still next man up,” James said, who finished with a season-high 36 points.
The Clippers went out to their biggest lead in the second half, 22 points, erasing multiple runs by the Lakers after cutting it to single digits. They would finish the night hitting 16 3s on 37% shooting, while the Lakers shot their season-lowest 16% on six made 3s.
“We had some great looks but just didn’t make shots,” James said on the Lakers’ shooting woes. “But we still gave ourselves a chance to be in the game by how well we defended.”
Kawhi Leonard and James Harden’s two-man action in the fourth quarter helped the Clippers close out the Lakers, as they tried everything to get the score within reach. A cold-blooded four-point play from Harden and a steal-and-slam defensive sequence from Leonard forced the Lakers fans in attendance to leave their seats early and beat the traffic before the final horn.
Leonard finished with a Clipper-high 32 points, while Harden poured in nine of his 21 points (10 assists) in the fourth.
The Lakers will play the Suns on the road next up on Tuesday, before playing the following five games at home, starting on Christmas Day against the Houston Rockets.