The Los Angeles Lakers visited their neighborhood rivals news arena, the Intuit Dome, for the first time tonight. It turned out to be a bad night for the Lakers, who lost 102-116 to the Los Angeles Clippers, a team they used to call their little brothers when they shared occupancy at the Crypto.com Arena from 1999 to 2024.
The Lakers got get production from two players - LeBron James and Rui Hachimura. LeBron had 25 points (9-20 FG), five rebounds, 11 assists, and three steals while Hachimura had 19 points (9-14 FG) and seven rebounds. Anthony Davis disappointed with just 16 points (5-14 FG), 10 rebounds, and three blocks while Austin Reaves had a quiet 14 points (4-6 FG). Dalton Knecht (3-4 FG) and Max Christie (4-7 FG) had 10 points apiece in the loss.
Fans were pissed about the outcome, as the Clippers mark the start of a new era at the Intuit by vanquishing their Hollywood neighbors.
"The best center in the league is in Los Angeles, but he doesn’t play for the Lakers," said one proud Clippers fan about Ivica Zubac's dominance over Davis.
"Zubac dominating this game is the latest reminder how badly the Lakers need a center and have needed one basically since they traded him," said another fan about the former Laker Zubac.
"AD pretty clearly needs a week-ish break like LeBron got but that Lakers can’t afford that because his replacements are low level 2k create-a-players," said Anthony Irwin about the obvious exhaustion on Davis' face during games.
"If you think the Lakers are winning a championship with a starting backcourt of Austin Reaves and Max Christie i got some oceanfront property in Wyoming I wanna sell you," said Cuffs The Legend about the roster flaws on the Lakers.
"Saw a moron tryna flex lakers beating under .500 teams as an achievement makes a ton of sense as the nba playoffs on road to a championship features nothing but sub .500 teams while we're down 17 in the 4th," said one fan pointing out the Lakers inability to compete aginst the best teams in the NBA.
"The Clippers own LeBron. This is embarrassing as a Lakers fan," said another fan.
The Clippers were led by a four-headed monster in this win. Norman Powell led them in scoring with 22 points (9-17 FG) while Ivica Zubac put up a near 20-20 game with 21 points (9-16 FG), 19 rebounds, and three blocks. James Harden had a double-double with 21 points (7-19 FG) and 11 assists while Kawhi Leonard had 19 points (9-13 FG).
This loss didn't change the standings as Lakers stayed the No. 6 seed in the West with a 22-18 record while the Clippers extended their lead on the No. 5 seed with the win, improving to 24-17 on the season.
