One month into their midseason revival, the Los Angeles Clippers will mark the occasion by returning to the matchup where it all began with a visit from the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday at Inglewood, Calif.
The Clippers were 6-21 on the season when they turned one of their better defensive efforts into a 103-88 victory on Dec. 20 over the Lakers. The win sparked the current 13-3 surge that has the Clippers thinking about the playoffs again.
While defeats have been rare of late, the Clippers return home following a 138-110 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday. The game got away after the Clippers were outscored 45-19 in the second quarter as James Harden finished with 24 points and John Collins had 23.
The stumble, on the second night of a back-to-back scenario, came as the Clippers gave up their third-most points in a game this season. The defense has allowed 108.3 points over the 16-game uprising after allowing 117.0 points over the first 27 games.
“Going 2-1 was a good trip for us but I thought this game, on a back-to-back, really caught up with us,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “We were tired. We were slow. We’re already slow, but even slower.”
Kawhi Leonard has led the charge of late but he did not play on the road trip because of a left knee contusion. He is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game. In his last 13 games, Leonard averaged 32.7 points.
Collins has been key over the recent run, scoring 15.2 points over 13 games since Dec. 20, including three games of at least 22 points in the past eight contests.
The Lakers started a run of eight consecutive road games with a 115-107 victory at Denver on Tuesday as the Nuggets played without Nikola Jokic (knee). Luka Doncic had 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in his fifth triple-double of the season.
LeBron James scored 19 points and Marcus Smart had 15, but the Lakers lost center Deandre Ayton in the first half after he was poked in the eye. Ayton did not appear on the Lakers’ injury report on Wednesday.
The Lakers trailed 37-28 after one quarter and were in a 71-57 hole at halftime. Doncic and Smart each scored 15 points in the second half, while the major difference came on defense with the Nuggets scoring 17 points in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth.
“Luka, you can’t turn the engine halfway with him,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said. “Once the engine’s on, like he’s in kill mode. And it’s on me as a coach to make sure that everybody else is involved, and it’s on him too, on the court, to make sure of that. And truthfully, I think he’s done a phenomenal job of that the last couple weeks.”
Lakers guard Austin Reaves (calf) remained out for the 13th consecutive game. Reaves’ timetable for a return remains vague, but he is expected back at some point over the current stretch of road games. He has been ruled out for Thursday.
While the Clippers won their home game against the Lakers last month, as Doncic departed in the first half with a leg contusion, it was the host Lakers who won the first matchup 135-118 on Nov. 25 when Doncic scored 43 points and Reaves had 31.
