LOS ANGELES — The “Battle of L.A.” between the Lakers and Clippers was downplayed as a rivalry by both coaches ahead of the first matchup of the season between the teams Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
But what wasn’t downplayed were the stakes.
More than the four-game winning streak the Lakers entered Tuesday with. And more than the opportunity for the struggling Clippers, who had lost 10 of their previous 12 games, to get back on track.
As Lakers big man Jaxson Hayes put it: “We win, we get [at least] $53K. Gotta start somewhere.”
So with the Lakers’ 135-118 victory over the Clippers, they not only guaranteed themselves at least a portion of the NBA Cup prize money, but they also clinched West Group B, securing their spot in the In-Season Tournament’s quarterfinals.
“I really enjoyed it as a broadcaster, covering it, talking about it,” Lakers Coach JJ Redick said. “Didn’t get an opportunity to compete for the Cup last year. So we’re excited. I mean, $53,000 is a lot of money. So there’s some extra motivation. Coaches do get to split a share, I think the head coach might get a full share. So it’s motivation for sure.”
Luka Doncic added: “I mean, obviously, I’ll accept money. That’s easy. But I never got past the group stage, so something new for me. I played it in Spain, something like this, so I like it.”
Doncic had 43 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds to pace the Lakers (13-4), falling just short of his 10th career 40-point triple-double.
“We couldn’t get stops, whatever we tried to do with Luka – switch, fire, blitz – he just picked apart,” Clippers Coach Ty Lue said. “Just a tough cover, [we were] just trying to mix it up, show him different looks. But he’s a great player. He took advantage of everything we tried to do tonight,
Austin Reaves had 31 points, nine rebounds and three assists, while LeBron James (25 points, six rebounds and six assists) had his highest-scoring game since making his season debut last week after missing the opening 14 games because of sciatica.
“[Tuesday] was a great game for all three of those guys,” Redick said. “Luka getting going early and establishing himself. LeBron and AR, staying patient within that, being very efficient in that first half within that onslaught that Luka had knowing that there’s going to be adjustments made.”
The Lakers have won all three of their NBA Cup games so far, with their final Group Play matchup against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
James Harden led the Clippers (5-13) with 29 points, nine assists and five rebounds, but the Clippers allowed the Lakers to their most efficient 3-point shooting games of the season. The Lakers knocked down a season-best 44.8% (13 for 29) of their shots from behind the 3-point arc.
“Just played the right way,” Reaves said. “Took our open shots, but just stuck to schemes and got the ball where we wanted to get it, and we made shots.”
All five starters scored in double figures for the Clippers, including Kawhi Leonard, who scored 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting in 27 minutes to go with five rebounds and three assists in his second game back after a 10-game absence because of a right ankle and foot sprain.
Kris Dunn had 19 points, while John Collins had 18 points and five rebounds. Ivica Zubac had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Dunn was ejected with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter after receiving a pair of technical fouls for an altercation he started by shoving Doncic. Jaxson Hayes picked up a technical foul coming to Doncic’s defense.
“Of course, I appreciate it,” Doncic said. “I told him right away, ‘Thanks for having my back.’ And that says a lot about him. That says a lot about this team. Everybody has got each other’s backs.”
Doncic told Hayes that he’d pay his league-issued fine for the technical foul.
“He said he got me,” Hayes said. “I didn’t like the way he shoved him. I just wanted to help.”
Hayes added: “I feel a lot of camaraderie with this team. I feel like we’re all in this together. We’re all pretty close. We all want to protect each other.”
Doncic’s hot scoring start helped the Lakers have an early advantage.
The 6-foot-8 star guard scored 24 points in the opening quarter on 9-of-14 shooting (5 for 8 from 3-point range), marking his season high for points in a quarter. It was his highest-scoring quarter of the season, making his first five 3-point attempts after missing 17 of 22 in his previous two games.
“He made shots, got to the free throw line, got his teammates involved,” Leonard said of Doncic. “He played great.”
He also directed a stream of trash talk and staredowns at the Clippers’ bench, continuing a semi-friendly feud that predates his move to the Lakers.
“Luka got it going early,” James said. “Kind of set the tone of what was going to be offensively, and then we just followed that train.”
But the Clippers as a team were as hot as Doncic, with Harden’s pull-up 3-pointer toward the end of the quarter giving the visitors a 38-37 lead entering the second.
Both teams held leads in the second quarter, but neither created significant separation, with the Lakers leading 69-66 at the end of the first half.
James had his best scoring quarter since his return in the third, scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting to lead the Lakers in the quarter, but the Clippers kept up behind another strong quarter from Harden, who had 11 points and three assists in the third.
The Lakers won the third 29-27 to maintain a 98-93 lead entering the fourth.
With Doncic on the bench to start the fourth, James and Reaves led the Lakers on a 14-7 run to open the quarter, with the hosts holding a 112-100 lead when Doncic subbed back in.
The Lakers led by at least nine points for the remainder of the game, with Doncic assisting Hayes (eight points, four rebounds and three assists) on an alley-oop with 1:52 left for a 129-115 lead.
The Clippers took their main rotation players out after the ensuing timeout. The Lakers kept their main players in to help increase their point differential in tournament games, which is a tiebreaker for seeding purposes, before taking their rotation players out 30 seconds later.