The Los Angeles Lakers have been spiraling lately. They had lost 10 of their last 13 games coming into Sunday night’s contest against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Meanwhile, the Clippers had a five-game winning streak and had taken 14 of their previous 16 contests. Many likely believed the Lakers had no real chance of winning this game.
Even worse, a report surfaced that this contest would be crucial for head coach Darvin Ham’s job security.
After looking at least somewhat competitive to start the game, the Lakers fell behind 16-7 before fighting back with their defense. The Clippers have had a habit of getting off to scorching starts against the Lakers, but Kawhi Leonard and crew could only muster 24 points in the first quarter of this contest. That defensive effort allowed the Lakers to stay within four, 53-49, at halftime despite committing twice as many turnovers as their opponents.
They started to turn up their defense in the third quarter and forced eight turnovers in the period to go up 81-77 going into the final 12 minutes. The Purple and Gold went up by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter before Kawhi Leonard and crew made the score tight. But the Lakers were able to get enough stops in crunch time to pull off a surprising 106-103 victory.
The Lakers won this game the old-fashioned way — with defense. The Clippers had been white-hot offensively of late, but they shot 39.6% from the field in this contest. Leonard shot 6-of-17 from the field while James Harden was 4-of-13 and committed five turnovers. Overall, the Clippers shot a freezing 30% from the field in the final period.
Meanwhile, the Lakers finished at 51.2% from the field and 37.9% from 3-point range.
They can use this game as a model for how they can win games with regularity and impetus for a legitimate turnaround moving forward.