The Los Angeles Lakers came in needing to reverse a troubling trend against their crosstown rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. They had lost six in a row to them dating to opening night last season.
The Lakers fell behind by 17 in the second quarter, only to make a spirited run and pull to within three at halftime.
But the Purple and Gold were embarrassed in the third period. They seemingly couldn’t hit a shot, and they did almost nothing defensively, giving up transition bucket after transition bucket and multiple offensive rebounds as the Clippers grew white-hot from 3-point land.
In the end, Reggie Jackson slugged the Lakers with 36 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, and he had the Clippers home crowd chanting his name at one point.
It was the Lakers’ fourth straight loss, and they are sagging dangerously close to 10th place in the Western Conference.