Los Angeles Lakers look to remain on roll against struggling NBA rivals Los Angeles Clippers

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers are feeling merry about the road ahead, while the Los Angeles Clippers have been weighed down with the holiday blues as the cross-town rivals get set to meet in a Clippers home game at Inglewood on Dec 20 (Dec 21 morning, Singapore time).

With an 11-3 record since Nov 14, the Lakers are bumping elbows ​with some of the best teams in the Western Conference. Since LeBron James returned from a bout with sciatica to make his season debut on Nov 18, they are 8-2 with their star on the floor.

The Clippers have been one of the worst teams in ​the National Basketball Association (NBA), ​entering on an eight-game home losing streak. Since Kawhi Leonard returned from ankle and foot injuries on Nov 23, they have one win in 11 games.

The Lakers (19-7) unleashed their offence while scoring a season-high 143 points in a road victory against the Utah Jazz on Dec 18. Luka Doncic delivered his third triple-double of the season with 45 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds.

Los Angeles shot 52.7 per cent from the floor on 93 shot attempts, their second most in a game this 2025-26 season. They also had a season-low seven turnovers. All these statistics bode well for the Clippers clash.

“I could do so much more, but I think (my) one turnover is the ​best on this stat sheet,” Doncic said as he looked ahead to the next game. “We had seven turnovers, which is impressive for us and we won the game. And again, that’s what matters.”

The Clippers have ​not won a home game since Oct 31 and enter off a 122-101 road loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Dec 18 when Leonard had 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

James Harden, who leads the Clippers (6-21) with 26.0 points per game, did not play with a bruised left calf. He is not listed on the injury report for the Dec 20 game.

Without him to run the offence, the Clippers committed a season-high 29 turnovers which the Thunder turned into 38 points, so the team will be hoping he is fit sooner rather than later.

The Clippers are towards the bottom of the league with 16.1 turnovers per game.

“Just gotta be better. The season’s not over,” coach Tyronn Lue said.

“That’s gotta be our mindset going forward. We have to play better... we gotta be able to close out games and finish them. That’s what we’ve been struggling with.”

The Lakers are on a four-game winning streak against the Clippers, while going 7-2 in the series over the past three seasons.

That success has come after the Clippers peeled off 11 consecutive victories over the Lakers in a run that started in December of 2020.

Meanwhile in NBA action on Dec 19, the Thunder suffered just their third defeat of the season in a last-minute 112-107 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

A whopping 35 points from reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was not enough to prevent the reverse. Anthony Edwards top-scored for the Timberwolves (18-10), earning 26 points, plus 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Elsewhere, French superstar Victor Wembanyama came off the bench to score 26 points in just 21 minutes, as the San Antonio Spurs crushed the Atlanta Hawks 126-98.

The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat 129-116, with Jaylen Brown reaching 30 points for a sixth consecutive game.

REUTERS, AFP