Chris Paul, Clippers outshine Lakers in Kobe Bryant’s final Christmas Day game

After the first returns of 2016 NBA All-Star voting, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant is leading the pack by a wide margin.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been represented incredibly well at the NBA All-Star game over the last four years.

The Clippers already have more losses on the 2nd nights of back-to-backs this season (2-5 record) than all of last season (NBA best 16-4 record), and these sorry performances late in just about every single game is a major contributing factor. They also capitalized on nine Lakers turnovers for 12 points while committing five (two points).

Los Angeles Clippers vs Los Angeles Lakers is going to be an exciting match.

“He’s done so much for this game and he’s had so much success, and I think he’s put time into the game and really respected the game and gone about working at it the right way”, said Blake Griffin.

Despite a fourth-quarter rally, the Lakers lost to the L.A. Clippers an eighth straight time, 94-84, in a designated Lakers home game at Staples Center. The Clippers came away with a win ( if not in the most desirable fashion), and hopefully will be looking at a chance to finally start carving their own legacy soon enough. However, they outscored the Clippers 27-9 in the fourth.

Bryant announced on November 29 that he will retire after this season, his 20th in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Now Bryant turns his attention to one final Christmas showcase, a stage that typically hasn’t gone well for him. “˜Shocked”™ doesn”™t do it justice,” Bryant said. “I even surprised myself talking about playing in my 18th year”. It’s kind of become a part of our family routine.

“I thought we got stops”, Griffin said of the Clippers’ early success. DeAndre Jordan tops in rebounds with 13.1 and in blocks with 2.4 per game. They have won 12 of their last 13 meetings with the Lakers. When D’Angelo Russell made that ugly game-tying shot against the Minnesota Timberwolves to force overtime a few weeks ago, Kobe was the first one off the bench to celebrate with him.

The Clippers took an 85-57 lead into the fourth, and both coaches rested all of their starters until the Lakers started to make a move led by Russell, Julius Randle and Marcelo Huertas. Paul scored 17 points on 8 of 11 shooting to lead all scorers at the break. Paul finished hitting 11 of 19 shots.