Lakers Lose to Clippers in Bryant’s Christmas Day Finale

An MRI exam revealed that All-Star forward Blake Griffin had suffered a torn left quadriceps tendon the previous day against the Lakers and would be sidelined at least two weeks.

Even during last season, when the Clippers won 56 games and earned the 3rd seed in the Western Conference, losing Griffin for two weeks would have been a real blow.

Griffin is the Clippers’ leading scorer with 23.2 points per game.

J.J. Redick and Paul Pierce apparently didn’t care, showing no ill effects of the travel or exhausted legs late as they both finished 5-for-7 from 3-point range and came up with the necessary perimeter shots late in a tight matchup to power the Clippers (18-13) past the Jazz (12-16) in a 109-104 win. Chris Paul was in the lineup for all 82 games last season, an anomaly Doc Rivers and Co. can’t count on given his recurrent knee problems. Hayward had 33 points the first time these teams matched up this year.

The Lakers failed to match the Clippers’ intensity early in the contest, as Paul made four of his first five shots and put the visiting Clippers up by 10 points at the end of the first quarter. “Growing up and watching the Bulls and the Knicks and all those great games on Christmas Day, having been a part of this for many years has been cool”. “We know that team is a playoff contender so we should just use that as confidence knowing that we can compete with teams like that”, he said after the game, “but at this level, every team is good no matter what people on the outside say”. It looked like it was going to be another 35 or 40 point loss for the Lakers, but their bench unit brought them back to within 10 to finish the game.

“As much as the Celtics hate us and we hate them, I think Celtics fans are some of the most knowledgeable fans in the world, so I think they’ll gave him the same type of respect that he deserves, that he’s been given everywhere else”, Scott said Saturday at practice.

Bryant missed all three shots he took in the first quarter and then scored nine points in the second, including a pair of 3-pointers 29 seconds apart to help slice a 17-point deficit to 47-37 with 4:14 left.

“Listen, I was making a little coffee run (Christmas) morning, got some gas and made a decision to just go on Instagram and peruse”, Bryant told reporters. “We kind of figured out how to get open”. Pierce and Redick each had 11 points in the third quarter and it seemed to turn the Clippers around. How the team plays without Griffin will go a long way towards deciding their fate this season.