And they did it by 38 points.
Easily the most impressive part of L.A.’s second-consecutive blowout win to start the season* was that the Lakers, collectively, did not let up on the crosstown Clippers for even a minute of the 117-79 annihilation at STAPLES Center Tuesday. A few bullet points elucidate that fact:
*L.A. beat Portland 96-76 on the front end of the back-to-back.
The Lakers had seven players in double-figures, led by 16 points from Kobe Bryant.
L.A.’s vaunted bench combined for an almost silly 55 bench points. And how about a 17-point run by the second unit in the second quarter?
Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant totaled 26 boards between them to pace a 51-32 Laker rout on the glass.
The purple and gold made 11 more shots from the field in holding the Clips to 38.5 percent shooting, highlighted by ceding a total of 30 points in the second and third quarters.
Second-chance points favored the Lakers 25 to six, thanks in part to 14 offensive rebounds.
Andrew Bynum was much better on Wednesday than Tuesday, posting 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting, grabbing those nine boards and totaling three more blocks, matching his swat total from the Portland win.
The Lakers canned 10-of-19 threes after making 7-of-10 yesterday. That’s a combined 58.6 percent from distance.
Stay tuned on lakers.com for a 1-on-1 video interview with Pau Gasol, plus a montage of Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza and Andrew Bynum.
Later.
