INGLEWOOD — Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said the team’s goal is to go 35-20 the rest of the season. After thinking about it, he changed it to 36-19, to give the team a winning record.
The idea seemed far-fetched before the Clippers faced the Lakers on Saturday night at the Intuit Dome. Winning even 10 games seemed undoable as the team slowly sunk to near the bottom of the Western Conference standings with just six victories through 27 games.
But then the unthinkable happened.
The Clippers (7-21) overwhelmed a short-handed, cold-shooting Lakers team, 103-88, to snap a five-game losing streak in front of a slightly pro-Lakers sellout crowd, securing their first home win since Halloween.
The Lakers (19-8) were without three of their normal starters – guard Austin Reaves (left calf), center Deandre Ayton (elbow) and forward Rui Hachimura, who was downgraded hours before tipoff because of a sore groin. They still had four-time NBA champion LeBron James and five-time All-Star Luka Doncic, until Doncic exited the game at halftime with a left leg contusion.
The Lakers didn’t have enough to keep up with the Clippers, who got a season-high 32 points from Kawhi Leonard and 21 points and 10 assists from James Harden to win for the first time since Dec. 3 and for only the second time in a month.
But like all their games lately, it wasn’t easy.
But unlike all their games lately, though, they didn’t fall apart in the second half, which had become something of a bad habit.
The Clippers dominated their cross-town rivals for the first three quarters, leading by as many as 22 points as the Lakers struggled offensively. The Clippers held an 80-61 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
That’s when James got serious and kicked the Lakers into overdrive, scoring 12 consecutive points to close the gap to 80-73.
The Clippers answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by John Collins and Harden to go with Leonard’s dunk off a James turnover, but the Clippers have let several games slip away down the stretch this season.
The Lakers – who shot an abysmal 6 for 38 from 3-point range – scored six points in a row to close to 88-79 on a Jake LaRavia putback with 4:45 left. Harden answered with his fourth 3-pointer and a free throw to give the Clippers a 92-81 lead.
The Lakers made one final push, again cutting the margin to nine points (97-88) on a 3-pointer by James with 1:57 remaining. Harden made two free throws with 1:38 left, and Leonard added a pair of his own to close out the victory.
James, who turns 41 on Dec. 30, scored a team-high 36 points for the Lakers. Doncic, who came into the game averaging a league-leading 35.2 ppg, finished with 12 on 4-of-13 shooting (1 for 6 from 3-point range) in 19 minutes. He was coming off a triple-double of 45 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists in Thursday’s win in Utah.
LaRavia added 12 points and was the only other Lakers player to score in double figures. The team shot just 38.6% from the field and the aforementioned 15.8% from behind the arc, with Marcus Smart going 0 for 9 from long range.
John Collins added 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who shot 42.5% overall and 37.2% (16 for 43) from 3-point range.
Clippers center Ivica Zubac twisted his ankle in a collision near the basket with 1:13 left in the first quarter and did not return. But the Lakers couldn’t take advantage of his absence and trailed 54-39 at halftime.
More to come on this story.