The Lakers will face a strong and experienced Clippers team in their third Las Vegas Summer League game.
On Monday, Las Vegas Summer League will feature the battle of Los Angeles between the Lakers and the Clippers. This is the purple and gold’s third game of the tournament, and a win in this one will strengthen their chance to qualify for the semifinals round.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. L.A. Clippers
When: 7:30 p.m. PT, July 14
Where: Thomas & Mack Center
Watch: NBA TV
The Clippers are a veteran-filled team, with plenty of players who have Summer League experience under their belt.
Luckily for the Lakers, the Clippers will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back on Monday. The other L.A. team is 2-0 in the tournament thus far.
If the Lakers are seriously vying to make it to the semifinals, they’ll have to win this game. They’re once again going to need Cole Swider — who has been carrying the Lakers all summer — to replicate the performance he gave in Saturday’s victory against the Pelicans.
Swider ended that contest with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
Besides Swider, now is also the time for some of the guys on the roster to really prove their worth.
DJ Steward and Darius Bazley have done that. Arthur Kaluma made his presence felt last game, but the question is, who else has something to show?
Maybe Christian Koloko will string two good games in a row, or one of TY Johnson, RJ Davis, or DaJaun Gordon can step up.
Outside of these names, it’ll be nice to see this Lakers team win and give fans something to be excited about. Nothing does that more than a strong game from Bronny James Jr., who put up 14 points and three assists as well as performed well in the closing minutes of the last game.
James’ defense has been the most commendable part of his performance this summer and it’ll be nice to see that continue.
As for his teammate, Dalton Knecht, there’s no word yet about his health status after missing the previous game due to a calf cramp. The 24-year-old sat out due to precautionary reasons, and it won’t be a surprise if he does the same for likely the rest of the tournament. If that’s the case, that’s unfortunate since Knecht is one of the team’s exciting young players.
Regardless of who is on the court, the Lakers should still go hard and try their best to win the Battle of L.A. matchup in Las Vegas. Let’s see if they can do just that and improve their record to 2-1 on Monday.
Notes and Updates
- Eric Dixon has officially been ruled out for Summer League with a right foot injury.
- We will be live on Playback for this game, so be sure to join us!
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You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.