The Los Angeles Lakers won Friday, and the Los Angeles Clippers are hoping that’s the only bad news.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard left the game with five minutes left in the fourth quarter due to left ankle soreness, the team announced. The exit came at a critical juncture, with the Clippers down by three with five minutes left.
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That wound up being significant. The Clippers did an admirable job of hanging around, but took another blow when Bennedict Mathurin’s 26-point night ended with him fouling out. The Lakers pulled out a 125-122 win, behind 38 points and 11 assists from Luka Dončić.
It nearly ended in disaster for the Lakers, though. With a three-point deficit and 9.7 seconds left, the Clippers stole the inbounds pass and got the ball to an open Nicholas Batum for a would-be game-tying 3-pointer. The shot missed, and LeBron James brought down the game-sealing rebound.
It wasn’t the prettiest game for the Lakers, who opened the game by making 16 of 19 shots in the first quarter only to blow a 16-point lead, but it’s a victorious first step with James, Dončić and Austin Reaves all together. That trio has only played 11 games together all season.
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James finished with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting and 11 assists, while Reaves had 29 points on 9-of-15 shooting in his first game without a minutes restriction since returning from a calf injury.
Leonard, who had some interesting thoughts on the Clippers’ playoff chances the previous night, had 31 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds in 31 minutes. Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said after the game that the star has been dealing ankle soreness for some time and “it got stiff on him” Friday night.
Lue also had some choice words for how the Lakers were running their offense:
“When you’re foul baiting the whole game… it’s tough. These guys are already great players… We did everything we could.”
The Clippers entered the game as quietly one of the hottest teams in the NBA, having won 21 of 28 games since hitting rock bottom on Dec. 19. Friday was a chance to reach .500 on the season, but they now sit at 27-29 and still in a battle for play-in tournament positioning.
