The Lakers looked to be in command in Wednesday’s Christmas day game against the Clippers, but they couldn’t hold a big lead and ended up losing 111-106 at home, The Lakers’ have now lost four straight.
Kyle Kuzma was a bright spot for LA and showed no signs of fatigue after coming into the game with an ankle injury. The third-year forward scored a team high 25 points in 27 minutes.
LeBron James finished with 23 points, ten assists and nine rebounds while Anthony Davis tallied 24 points and six rebounds.
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“They wanted it more,” Davis told ESPN. “We had a lot of mistakes down at the end of the game, mental mistakes at both ends of the floor. We fouled a lot in the fourth quarter, put them to the line. … We gave that one away.”
With 3.6 seconds left in the game, James had a chance to tie it up but had the ball knocked out of hands by Clippers’ guard Patrick Beverley, as he tried to pull up for three. Upon review, the ball went out of bounds after touching James’ hand last leading to a Clippers’ victory.
Paul George, who had 17 points, showed appreciation for his scrappy teammate. “We just got waves of defenders. And our smallest guy tonight got the biggest stop of the game,” George said. Beverley didn’t have a big stat line but played stifling defense and had five rebounds in the fourth quarter.
“That wasn’t the game right there,” James said. “I mean, it’s a big play and you want to try to get it right, but it wasn’t where the game was lost.” The Lakers shot a measly 12-45 from three point range. It’s hard to win when you miss that many shots.
The Clippers were down by as much as 15 in the third quarter, but outscored the Lakers 60-43 in the second half.
Kawhi Leonard lead the way for the Clippers scoring 35 points with 11 coming in the fourth quarter, and grabbing 12 rebounds to go along with five assists. He set a franchise record in points scored on Christmas and became the tenth player in NBA history with at least 35 points, ten rebounds and five assists on Christmas day.
The Clippers got much needed help from their bench as Montrezl Harrell gave them energy and scored 18 points and grabbed six boards. “We have so many interchanging parts,” Clippers guard Lou Williams said. “We have guys that’s going to have big nights. I think I had five or six points tonight, and that’s just how this team is built. It’s going to be different guys every night.”
The Lakers travel to Portland next and the Clippers will host Utah in their next game.
