After the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers extended their winning streak to five games with a home victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday, the teams will battle for the last time in the regular season on Sunday.
Luka Doncic continues to round into form with the Lakers, scoring 31 points in Friday’s victory over a team he has tormented in his career. In 19 career regular-season games against the Clippers, Doncic has averaged 32.5 points with 8.0 rebounds and 7.3 assists.
LeBron James scored 28 points with 13 rebounds as the Lakers improved to 15-3 since Jan. 21 while playing without starting forward Rui Hachimura (knee) and losing starting guard Austin Reaves (right calf strain) in the first quarter. Reaves had an MRI which revealed no serious injury, ESPN reported on Saturday. Reaves is listed as doubtful and Hachimura as out for Sunday’s game.
Doncic was just 1 of 6 from 3-point range in the first three quarters Friday, then made two from long distance in the fourth quarter when he scored 10 points to finish off the win. Afterward, he sounded optimistic that a return to his high-level form is close.
“It takes a while for a group to develop a collective mentality,” Lakers coach JJ Reddick said. “There have been a lot of things that have happened this season. I think our group, our ecosystem, (has) been sustained since mid-January. There were flashes of it throughout the early parts of the year, but I like who we are right now as a team.”
Doncic has averaged 21.0 points with 8.6 rebounds and 6.4 assists in his first seven games with the Lakers following a trade-deadline deal from the Dallas Mavericks. He has averaged 25.6 points over the last four games.
The Clippers have lost four times in a five-game span for just the second time this season. Counting Sunday’s contest, they have two more road games remaining on a stretch of eight consecutive away from home, going back to before the All-Star break.
Ivica Zubac scored 27 points with 16 rebounds for the Clippers in the 106-102 loss on Friday, while Kawhi Leonard added 21 points while making 8 of 17 from the field. James Harden was just 5 of 22 from the floor and 1 of 10 from 3-point range while scoring 18 points.
Harden shot 1 of 13 in the second half alone and 0 of 6 from deep while also committing five of his six turnovers.
“Every possession counts, and we didn’t do a good job,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “I think it was a two-point game when we had two turnovers in a row, which kind of helped them break the game open. So it’s just something we can learn from and just be better with.”
Harden had two turnovers and Kris Dunn had another, all in a 39-second stretch with less than three minutes to play that allowed the Lakers to seal the victory.
As the Lakers deal with their own injury issues, the Clippers have been without leading scorer Norman Powell (knee) for the past five games.
On Saturday, the Clippers signed two-way guard Jordan Miller to a four-year standard deal. Miller, who has performed well in the G League, has averaged 4.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in 30 games with the Clippers this season.
The Lakers not only have a 2-1 lead in the season series, they are 5-2 against the Clippers over the past two seasons.
