LOS ANGELES _ Injured Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George arrived at Staples Center on Tuesday wearing a tuxedo jacket and bow tie.
On a night when the NBA's season-opening matchup carried the trappings of a Hollywood spectacle, the black-tie outfit felt more appropriate than overdressed.
As celebrities and California Gov. Gavin Newsom watched, the matchup of NBA A-list stars that had been anticipated since the game's August announcement lived up to its promise in the Clippers' 112-102 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
A sold-out crowd of split allegiances alternately booed and celebrated Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and Anthony Davis _ and then the game started.
After missing his first two shots and turning the ball over twice _ a start that mirrored his team's disastrous first four minutes offensively _ Leonard made seven consecutive shots and assisted on two others to turn an 11-point Clippers deficit into a second-quarter lead. He finished with 30 points, six rebounds and five assists. Sixteen of his points came in the second quarter.
Just as Leonard, the reigning most valuable player of last season's NBA Finals, appeared unguardable for stretches, so too did the Lakers' All-NBA duo of James and Davis in moments that led Clippers fans to boo and Lakers fans to chant "MVP!"
James finished with 18 points, two of which came on a transition dunk during the third quarter that he followed by staring down Clippers guard Lou Williams. James, who also had nine rebounds and 10 assists, later chased down Clippers guard Landry Shamet on a fastbreak to erase his attempted layup before it touched the rim.
The Lakers fed Davis a steady diet of passes into the post, where he sized up the Clippers' front line with back downs and floaters en route to 25 points and 10 rebounds. When they found their lanes to the basket blocked by the length of the Clippers' long-armed defenders, they found Danny Green for 18 third-quarter points, an outburst that fueled a 15-0 Lakers run that helped level the score at 85-85 entering the fourth quarter.
For all of the control James, Leonard and Davis held over the game, it was a pair of nonstars who decided one of the game's most pivotal moments.
With the Clippers leading 107-99 with 3:10 to play in the fourth quarter, Patrick Beverley _ the Clippers guard whose career began in Ukraine, Greece and Russia _ grabbed an offensive rebound over James and passed to Williams, whose assist found formerly unheralded forward Montrezl Harrell for a layup and foul.
The sequence gave the Clippers bench that led the NBA in scoring one year ago 60 points. Lakers reserves managed 19 points.
In the days leading up to Tuesday's sound and fury from the stands, the Lakers and Clippers both said the season's first game would signify "nothing," as Clippers coach Doc Rivers reiterated before tipoff.
When the teams meet next on Christmas Day, things will certainly be different: George is expected to be playing for the Clippers, and Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo for the Lakers.
And yet, the charged atmosphere in the building certainly appeared to underscore something _ the prediction that the Western Conference could eventually run through Los Angeles.
