The Los Angeles Lakers fell again to .500 on the season after losing to the L.A. Clippers, 119-115.
Despite having LeBron James back in the lineup, the Lakers (now 12-12) still had a sluggish start to the game on both ends of the floor. Frank Vogel started Russell Westbrook, Talen Horton-Tucker, James, Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard, so the floor spacing didn’t threaten the Clippers at all.
The Clippers started to build a solid lead near the end of halftime, but the Lakers went on a quick 10-2 run to make it 53-50 after 24 minutes.
Basketball is a game of runs, and that summarized the second half. For every run the Lakers had to try to take the lead, the Clippers responded and maintained the advantage.
Despite Malik Monk and James stepping it up in the fourth quarter, defensive breakdowns allowed Luke Kennard to drill heartbreaking 3-pointer after heartbreaking 3-pointer, capped off by Marcus Morris’ deep 3-pointer that called bank, to seal the victory.
Here is how the Lakers graded individually in a game where the squad never led:
