Clippers Defeat Lakers In Battle Of Los Angeles

According to CBS Sports, Bryant was shocked to find out the news.

Jordan came reasonably close to matching those numbers against the Jazz with 14 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks.

Now for the bad stuff – pretty much everything else that’s happened to his team.

The Lakers lost to their hometown rivals on Christmas to drop to 5-25.

Geoff Magliocchetti remembers when the Lakers would tear it up on the National Basketball Association on NBC.

The Clippers could very well be the league’s only hope in making the ultimate underdog statement by taking the Warriors out of the running – but even then, the thought of moving into championship position is a long time away.

For all of Bryant’s achievements, personally and teamwise, December 25 was often unkind to him on the court. This was the second time the Lakers played the Clippers on Christmas, having won 85-75 in 1991 at the Forum with 20 points from A.C. Green and 18 from Scott…. The two scored the Clippers’ final 13 points of the game, including three clutch 3-pointers and 4-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line.

Griffin missed about five weeks toward the middle of last season with a staph infection in his right elbow and the Clippers did just fine, going 9-6 as center DeAndre Jordan benefited from a heavy increase in pick and rolls by averaging 14.9 points and 18.5 rebounds in those games.

“Their defense sucked. They fouled every possession or they let the other team score or the other team got an offensive rebound”, Rivers said.

Some would call this progress for the Lakers.

James Harden had 20 points and the Rockets slowed down the soaring Spurs with an 88-84 victory. Bryant shot 4-of-10 and wasn’t used late during the Lakers’ rally. A little bit of a sloppy game, we couldn’t get our rhythm and credit them for that.

“They both came out ready to play”, coach Byron Scott told the Lakers’ official website.

The Lakers’ intended future stars also are showing signs of progress. The Lakers went from down 28 to down 10 in half of a quarter. Was it any wonder they trailed, 60-44?

A jump shot by Boris Diaw got San Antonio to 59-58 with about 2 1/2 minutes left in the quarter.

The Lakers never led.

Trey Lyles made two foul shots to give Utah a 64-58 lead with 7:43 left in the third.

Bryant did not reenter after leaving midway through the third quarter.

“The thing I would say about Steph, what makes him who he is, is that nobody has to challenge him to get to the next level because he does it on his own”, coach Steve Kerr said. “I’ve never played in a Christmas Day game”.