Clippers clinch bragging rights with 50th Hallway Series win over Lakers
In the 25-season "Battle for L.A.", it's the Clippers who have come out on top, so to speak.
LOS ANGELES — Gone are the days of Michael Olowokandi and Maurice Taylor; Brian Skinner, Tyrone Nesby, and Eric Piatkowski are not walking through that door. The Crypto.com Arena (né, STAPLES Center) hallways are no longer haunted by the ghosts of basketball past. They can rest easy now.
The LA Clippers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, further distancing themselves from the desolate days of the first decade-or-so spent inside the place now chaotically referred to as ‘The Crypt’.
Tuesday’s 127-116 victory moved the Clippers to 28-14 on the season, firmly within striking distance of the Western Conference’s top seed as they sit just 1½ games back. The Lakers fell to 22-23 and are at risk of spending a second consecutive season toiling in the play-in bracket, a far cry from where they began this song and dance with the Clippers 25 years ago.
“Back when I played for the Lakers,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue reminisced postgame, his mind wandering to when he spent his first three seasons with the Lakers where he wound up winning two titles, before continuing, “It wasn't too much of a rivalry. It was just one-sided most of the time with the Lakers.”
Lue, like he often is these days, was right. It was a one-sided rivalry as the Lakers bludgeoned the Clippers to the tune of a 38-13 record from the arena’s opening in 1999 through the 2011-12 season.
But that’s the beauty of time. What once was, seldom remains is.
This current Clippers squad has Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, James Harden, and a host of worthy players who can make life tough on the Lakers, and that’s precisely what they did on Tuesday.
Leonard dropped in 25 points to go with 11 rebounds and 10 assists, notching his second career triple-double. Leonard made his first eight shots from the field, finishing the night by going 11-for-16 in 38 minutes. It was a methodical, deliberate, and surgical masterpiece from Leonard, the latest statement from the forward that he might be the best player in this transcendent city.
“I think [the rivalry]’s been a big thing since the Clippers came into L.A.,” Leonard said following the win. “So, I mean, it’s just going [to] keep building up over time, especially when you got great players on both teams, it makes it a lot better. It’s just been like that from since I was little.”
Leonard was aided by James Harden’s 23 points and 10 assists, as well as Terance Mann’s 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Norman Powell also chipped in with 17, as did Paul George. Guard Russell Westbrook scored 16 off the bench, including three huge 3s. Amir Coffey also netted three 3s en route to nine points.
But it wasn’t all unicorns, rainbows, and lollipops for the Clippers in this one. And that’s another large deviation from where the franchise presently is compared to where it used to be.
Lakers star LeBron James was ruled out for this game, and the Clippers played like a team who felt they didn’t need to turn up their effort and intensity to max levels to get the job done. While they weren’t wrong, it also left a sour taste in coach Lue’s mouth.
“They’re a great team next door,” Lue said about the Lakers. “And once LeBron [James] was out, I just didn’t think that we had the right mental mindset coming into the game, letting our guard down and not performing at a high level. So, I don’t like to see that because we’re better than that.”
The Lakers got 27 points and 10 assists from D’Angelo Russell and 26 points and 12 rebounds from Anthony Davis, but it wasn’t enough for a Lakers team missing arguably the greatest player ever, LeBron James.
The Clippers didn’t trail after the opening few minutes on Tuesday night, and it marked their 25th win in their last 32 games overall. They also set a season-high in points in the paint, notching 68 for the evening.
Compounding issues for the Lakers was the Clippers’ hot shooting.
Los Angeles’ often-overlooked squad connected on 59 percent of their field goal attempts overall and 52 percent of their 3-point tries.
“They have four first-ballot Hall of Famers,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said postgame. “Norman Powell is a hell of a rotation player, been so for a long, long time. Terance Mann, they have a hell of a team. [Amir] Coffey. Those guys, they really support one another. Russ [Westbrook], obviously being one of those first-ballot Hall of Famers — they got guys that’s going to make you pay if you make a mistake. Damn near have to play perfect basketball to beat these guys. They’re in a really good rhythm.”
Perfect basketball wasn’t to be found for the Lakers on this night, and the Clippers clawed back a little retribution from the prior two meetings. Then again, perfect basketball has been harder to achieve for the Lakers in this rivalry when these two teams have shared the floor.
Since 2012-13, the Clippers have won 37 of the 46 meetings, owning a 50-47 career record in the building against the Lakers and “winning” the lifetime Hallway Series.
It’s night and day from where the two franchises were, at least head-to-head when the arena first opened. Now, with them set to move into their brand-new, state-of-the-art arena, the Intuit Dome, the Clippers do take a small measure of bragging rights along for the ride.
The Clippers will embark on a seven-game, 11-day trip that’ll see them exclusively play Eastern Conference teams. L.A. has gone 7-3 against the “other” conference this season, and this could prove to be a pivotal time to make up some ground against the teams ahead of them as a result.
Paul George said postgame that he re-aggravated a left groin injury but felt good enough to keep playing. However, Lue subbed him out on two occasions late in the game as a precautionary measure. There’s no word on George’s status for the upcoming road trip, but George did say it was something they were “just trying to be ahead of.”
The Clippers are 28-14 (.667), their best record through 42 games since they were 29-13 in 2019-20, the first year of the George and Leonard pairing.
With the way things are going right now for the Clippers, even with the injuries to Ivica Zubac and potentially to George, they have to like where they sit. It’s a long way from where they were two months ago, and it’s a lot further from where the franchise was 25 years ago when they moved into the building in downtown Los Angeles.
That’s all the franchise can keep doing. Moving forward. Tuesday night was another step in the right direction.
One that was 25 years in the making.