LA Clippers continue their hot streak beating the Lakers without Lebron James- Jan. 2024

The LA Clippers hosted the Lakers in a rematch but this time it was on the Clippers home schedule game as the Lakers won in their last meeting about a week or so ago.  There was a big loss for the Lakers as LeBron James was ruled out from an ankle injury.  After hearing the news, the Clippers looked like it would be a runaway but the Lakers hung tough with the D’Angelo Russell with 27 pts & 10 assists and Anthony Davis had 26 pts and 12 rebounds carrying the load. It wasn’t until midway through the fourth quarter that the Clippers actually started to pull away and got a triple double out of Kawhi Leonard with 25 points 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

It was an all-around team effort with James Harden also having a solid game with 23 pts and 10 assists along with Norman Powell &  Russell Westbrook coming off the bench with 17 & 16 pots respectively to spark the second team. Zubac remained out so Mason Plumley started in his place and Daniel Thies played some key minutes as a back up center.

Both teams had 6 players in double figures but the Lakers are still missing another score to get them to a different level even when James is in the lineup. There’s some trade talks in the works for a few players, but they don’t have much space or cap room to pull the deal off. It looks like.  Unless they trade Russell,  As he’s been playing much better of late & shooting at a high-level. The Clippers continue to climb in the standings and didn’t play their best game but they’re so deep they got away with it. The final was 127- 116 and Coach Lue has been putting the right lineups together of late to make them a tough team to beat as a season goes on & into the playoffs as the second half of the season has started. This looks like to be a great season for the Clippers if they can stay out of injuries and the most dangerous team will be the Denver Nuggets but don’t overlook Phoenix as their top three stars are finally playing together,  Minnesota who is leading the western conference or OKC.  The Clippers moved to 28-14 while the Lakers fell to 22-23.  More at www.nba.com/clippers