Read about the Lakers vs. Clippers games as it unfolds. As always, feel free to refresh your browser for live updates throughout the game … On second thought, I guess they wouldn’t technically be “live” updates since you have to press refresh. But whatever.
Previous Lakers - Clippers Running Diary/Postgame
Lakers - Clippers Running Diary 10-29-2008
Lakers 117, Clippers 79: Postgame
Lakers - Clippers Running Diary 11-05-2008
Postgame: Lakers 106, Clippers 88
Lakers - Clippers Running Diary 1-21-2009
Lakers 108, Clippers 97: Postgame
Inactives
Lakers: Andrew Bynum, Sun Yue
Clippers: Ricky Davis, Chris Kaman
Starters
Lakers Fisher, Bryant, Ariza, Odom and Gasol
Clippers Baron Davis, Eric Gordon, Fred Jones, Zach Randolph and Brian Skinner
Phil Pregame = Bynum Update
Here’s a separate post on this for ya.
First Quarter
11:05 Ariza opened the scoring with a perimeter jumper for the Lakers. Dagger? Just kidding, Clips fans.
9:53 Lamar just palmed the ball under the hoop for a good three seconds while three Clippers tried to get it away from him. Odom’s limbs are not short. After another bad Clippers miss, Bryant posted up Gordon (won’t be the last time) for a 6-0 Lakers start.
6:12 Two nice plays from Kobe: A pull-up triple (swish) and a swat of Skinner on the low block, which preceded an Odom layup that pushed the Lakers’ lead to 17-8. Apparently, everyone in STAPLES (judging from the lack of energy) can tell that the Clips aren’t too interested in defending a team they’re not confident they can stop anyway.
4:13 More interesting than Gasol’s dunk (19-10) is this A.C. Slater tweet: “@MarioLopezExtra: I’m at the Laker game! The Lakers have lost every time I’ve come to see them play. I’m hoping to break my curse today.” I was always a Zach Morris guy…
2:58 Kobe Bryant’s shot’s been looking nice for a week or so now, as witnessed by his 10-for-19 at Milwaukee (7-for-7 in first half), 7-for-11 vs. Houston and second three pointer of the quarter that put the home team up 25-14. He had shot 50 percent just twice in the 10 games leading up to Milwaukee.
0:18.0 Surely a play that Lakers fans would like to see continue into the playoffs: Farmar to Vujacic for an open three.
With that, L.A. took a 30-17 lead into the second quarter. My question is, do you prefer SBTB Kelly or 90210 Valerie.
Second Quarter
9:40 Farmar made a 20-foot jumper moments after converting a tough running layup. This is news because Farmar’s really struggled from the field of late, and hasn’t scored more than six points since March 21 (13 @ Chicago), which was the first time he’d done that since March 9 (12 @ Portland). With his J, L.A. jumped up to a 36-17 lead.
8:29 Fisher had gone to the locker room with a sore left foot, according to L.A.’s PR staff, but just returned to the bench. In far less significant news, Ty Nowell “easily” selected 90210 Tiffany Amber Theissen. My thing is, I’m pretty sure I was more into Kelly when I was in middle school than I was Valerie in high school. That still didn’t convince Ty: “She dominated in all aspects as Valerie.” OK. Meanwhile, Slater grinned widely on the jumbotron when receiving a solid ovation.
6:02 You’re probably more interested in more Saved By The Bell and 90210 talk, but Luke Walton continued to be L.A.’s best bench player over a two-minute stretch he culminated with a leaner in the lane to put the Lakers up 41-27.
3:24 You know the alley-oop play L.A. runs once a game out of timeouts? The Clippers failed to recognize, Walton tossed a perfect pass and newly-checked-in Shannon Brown was in the air for a good three seconds before two-handing it home. Lakers 49, Clips 36.
1:24 Bryant continued to shoot the three well with his third swish of the game. Alongside Bryant and Odom on the floor were three end-of-bench subs: Brown, Mbenga and Adam Morrison. Bryant and Odom are there to ensure the lead doesn’t dwindle, while Jackson gets a look to see what kind of production might come from guys needed in a pinch.
The Clips did manage a 6-0 run to close the half as Bryant missed two shots and Brown one, cutting the purple and gold lead to 10 at 54-44.
Third Quarter
The Lakers shot 47.8 percent, only turned the ball over once and notched 17 assists on 22 field goals. How were they only up by 10? Two things: the Clips grabbed nine offensive boards, and got to the line 13 times.
10:30 With the quarter’s first four points going the away team’s way, the Laker lead was just six. It has to be a bit hard for the Lakers to wake up after the first half sleep walk.
9:14 The result of L.A.’s good ball movement on a possession in which Bryant was doubled was good: an open Fisher jumper. What’s more interesting is that Ariza didn’t even look to shoot when he was open … And when he did shoot, on the next possession, he was relatively far off. This has to be at least a small concern for the Lakers when the playoffs start and teams are constantly doubling Bryant, with Ariza the most likely guy left open on the perimeter. To follow that up, the other Laker who might get left open on the perimeter - Lamar Odom - missed an wide-open three at the top of the key on the next possession with L.A. leading 58-52.
6:25 With Bryant at the free throw line, the “MVP” chant wasn’t all that excitable, as if the STAPLES faithful were doing it out of obligation. Ty confirmed that last year’s MVP chants around this time nearly blew the roof off … Apparently the fans are much more concerned with a championship, much like Kobe himself. P.S., L.A. still led by just six, 60-54, as the two teams combined for four points in three minutes.
4:41 Both teams were scoring less than Screech at the Max before Odom finally read what I typed a few minutes ago and canned a triple.
3:38 Odom made up for two missed free throws by grabbing his second miss and drawing a goaltending foul. In the process, he got to 18 points with 10 boards, the first double-double of the night.
1:59 What happened to Baron Davis? He was such a dominant, emphatic player for the last two years, and it’s barely been noticeable that he’s in the game tonight. His line, in 27 minutes: eight points on 3-of-8 shooting, two rebounds and one assist. He’s been more than happy to defer to rookie Eric Gordon, who had 17 points and six boards, but needed 18 attempts to get there. Meanwhile, L.A. held a 67-56 lead.
0:21.2 After missing his first three free throws (no type), Bryant made one to put L.A. up 12 heading into the fourth quarter.
Fourth Quarter
12:00 In the Mirage Big Shot Jackpot, a guy who is probably 6-4, 250 missed his halfcourt and three-point attempts by a combined, I don’t know, 35 feet. The muscle-bound dude clearly just got out of the weight room.
10:35 Clippers sub Mike Taylor was making like Skip To My Lou in the original And-1 Mix Tape, crossing over left and right, before finally missing a layup in anticlimactic fashion.
8:04 The loudest cheer of the night - by far - came as Kareem Abdul-Jabaar was honored on the jumbotron for becoming the NBA’s All-Time leading on this day 25 years ago. It would have been even cooler had Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” not followed Lawrence Tanter’s baritone.
7:04 With two free throws from Gasol, L.A. had outscored the Clips 13-6 in the quarter to take a 81-62 lead.
4:16 The Clippers randomly decided to start playing hard again, going on a 9-0 run sparked by Fred Jones (five straight points) to cut L.A.’s lead to 10. With that, Phil Jackson went back to his starters, sending another one of his messages to the bench.
2:40 Fisher missed a three after five-straight Clippers points made it a 81-76 game, and felt that he was fouled on the arm as he was in the first half also when shooting a triple. He didn’t get the call in the first half, either, and went over to talk to the ref during a timeout.
1:09 One-point lead? Eric Gordon drew an off-ball foul from Odom, who was upset about not getting a call at the other end (some Laker fan really needs to see how many times a game Odom loses a benefit-of-the-doubt call) and hit both free throws to make it 83-82.
0:50.5 L.A. went to the Gasol-Randolph matchup in crunch time, and Pau blew right past Zach for a slick layup and a three point lead.
0:27.9 Randolph failed to respond, missing a potential game-tying three, and Kobe Bryant hit two free throws to put L.A. up five. Game over? Not so fast…
0:05.8 Gordon canned a three to get to 24 points on 22 attempts, making it 87-85 Lakers. Fisher then caught the inbounds pass out of a timeout and … missed the first of two, giving the Clips a chance to tie with 5.2 seconds remaining.
0:01.3 Davis, with Ariza draped to him, missed a three and L.A. escaped with a victory. Check the postgame report momentarily as we try and figure out how it became so close … But don’t worry too much. It was simply hard for L.A. to turn the energy on suddenly after it had dropped out of existence, and they still won game No. 61 to stay a game behind Cleveland in the race to the NBA’s best record.
