LA Clippers Light Up Lakers At Staples Center

The LA Clippers delivered in a much-needed win against the Lakers at Staples Center.

While the bottom half of the Western Conference playoff standings is still to take final shape, the Los Angeles Clippers know one thing is for certain — they’ll be a prime target this postseason.

Three of the Clippers’ next four games come against teams in the running to make some noise in the playoffs but need an extra edge to really have their playoff berth mean anything.

Following tonight’s 22-point rout of the Lakers, the Clippers will travel to Utah to take on the Jazz Friday night before hosting the Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies before ending the regular season in Phoenix against the Suns.

As you can imagine, tonight’s win was more than meets the eye.

At first it might seem like an easy win, but the Clippers didn’t have total control for a lot of the early parts of the game. Lazy efforts down low cost them in the first half, with their lead dwindling down to just eight points at halftime.

In the third quarter is where the Clippers thrived, doubling up the Lakers output of 16 points with 32 of their own and taking a commanding lead into the final frame by a difference of 24.

For the Lakers, it was more of the same kind of heartbreak that the team has had to deal with the entire regular season. Despite another decent start to a game, the Lakers showed that while trusting in their young players is part of their future, it’s not bringing them any immediate success aside from padding stats.

The Clippers shot with great precision, nailing the majority of their attempts via a 51% field goal percentage and dropping 35% of their shots from beyond the arc.

Chris Paul and Jeff Green led their team in scoring with 25 and 21, respectively.  Aside from their big night, notable performances from Austin Rivers, Jamal Crawford, and JJ Redick were worth attention, but not for the right reasons.

Being three of the other big scorers for the Clippers, Rivers, Crawford, and Redick combined for just 21 points and five rebounds — an effort unacceptable in the postseason if they expect to make a deep run.

One area that the Clippers need to watch carefully is their rebounding battles with their opposition. In the playoffs, getting quality boards aren’t going to come as easily as they might against a team like the Lakers.

And against them on Tuesday, the Clippers were only better in that category by a factor of three.

For the Lakers, Metta World Peace had a surprising outing, putting up a team-high 17 points while also grabbing five boards off the bench.

Next: LA Clippers Must Prepare For Portland

The Lakers’ starting five combined for a measly 32 points, including six from Kobe Bryant and zero from Roy Hibbert.