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Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers for a second straight time on Christmas Day, winning 111-106 on the Lakers’ floor at Staples Center.
The game had a playoff feel to it (except for that terrible new camera angle ESPN kept using) from the time Patrick Beverley kneed LeBron in the groin in the first few minutes and it came right down to the wire until Beverley sealed things up with a great defensive play on LeBron.
This was the type of stuff NBA fans hoped for when the Clippers landed Leonard and Paul George in the offseason. Here is a team that is more than capable of keeping LeBron, Anthony Davis, and the rest of a very good Lakers roster from getting the team back its championship ways.
That would be a nightmare for the fans of a storied franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since they beat a OKC Thunder team that still had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden on their payroll.
Lakers fans are dying for a championship, something they haven’t won since way back in 2010 when Kobe Bryant and Co. beat the Boston Celtics in 7 games. The addition of AD had everyone thinking the Lakers would be the team to beat. Then the Clippers made their two gigantic moves and here we are – the Clippers are now the best NBA team in the city of Los Angeles.
It’s still early and these games are far from playoff games, but the Clippers showed Wednesday night that nothing about playing LeBron and the Lakers fazes them. Leonard had a monster night, scoring 11 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter. Montrezl Harrell had 18 points, Paul George had 17, and Beverley was his normal big-play self on the defensive end.
The Lakers have lost four in a row, which probably won’t be remembered months from now when they’re trying to get to the Finals. Cold stretches happen during an 82-game season, even for a team as great as the Lakers.
But now it’s very clear that a healthy Clippers team with all of its players in the mix are an extremely difficult team to beat. They have all the makings of being the championship team that we expected coming into the season, which they proved again on Christmas Day.
This rest of their matchups with the Lakers are going to be a lot of fun, as would be a potential playoff series next spring.
Though Lakers fans might not like that all that much.
Wednesday’s biggest winners: Matthew and Kelly Stafford.
The Lions QB and his wife surprised a few young fans who had recently lost their father and man were these kids so stunned to see the Staffords at their doorstep. They came with Christmas gifts and then Matthew Stafford played Madden with them. But you need to see this video of their reactions to seeing the QB. It’s awesome.
Quick hits: The Sixers are fine… Christmas uniforms need to come back… NFL QB gifts to linemen… And more!
– Mike Sykes explains why we need to stop being pessimistic about the Sixers.
– LeBron is right, the NBA needs to bring back the Christmas uniforms.
– Charles Curtis ranked the best gifts given by a NFL QB to his offensive linemen this year. I think the Bucs got the best ones with their new Big Green Eggs because Big Green Eggs are the best things in the world.
– LSU and Oklahoma have their hype videos out for this Saturday’s playoff game… and LSU’s is better.
(Follow me on Twitter at @anezbitt. It might change your life. Just don’t tell me about your fantasy team.)