Apr 7, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant (24) in the first half against the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
After a 109-95 victory Sunday afternoon, the Clippers have swept their season series with the Los Angeles Lakers with and clinched the division. It is their first division title in franchise history.
What the Shaq is going on.
While the final score isn’t entirely indicative of just how competitive most of this game was, it’s hard to shake the feeling the Clippers were just flat-out better – a hard pill to swallow.
The Lakers are now tied with the Utah Jazz and the team must finish ahead of them to earn a playoff spot. With home games against the Hornets, Warriors, Rockets and Spurs to finish out the season our minds are reeling.
All that said, what good is the possibility of missing the playoffs unless we get to stifle our anxieties by overreacting to every players performance.
Players will not appear if they did not play at least 15 minutes*
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Kobe Bryant: B+
While Kobe may have struggles from the field (6-19), he had internet memes everywhere shuddering with his 10 assists. He finished with 25 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds and went 12-14 from the line.
It wasn’t his best performance. But we’re not going to give a guy nicknamed the Black Mamba anything lower than a “B”, it’s just not going to happen.
Pau Gasol: A (Player of the game)
Please, tell us Gasol is soft one more time.
He finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds (5 offensive) and 8 assists. The only thing we were disappointed with is the fact he didn’t shoot more (6-11 FG).
Dwight Howard: B
He tied Kobe for a game-high 25 points and showed flashes of just how dominant he can be defensively with four blocks. He even went 9-13 from the line, which is obviously pretty miraculous in it’s own right.
As for his work on the glass? He was outrebounded by Steve Blake and finished with four total.
Jodie Meeks: D
Meeks played 32 minutes, but we wouldn’t hold against you if you didn’t notice him. He finished with six points on two early threes and was outplayed by Clippers guard Willie Green who only played 17 minutes.
Steve Blake: C+
Even though he went 2-6 from deep, Blake was solid. He never tried to do too much and played within the flow of the game. He finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.
Antawn Jamison: C
8 points (4-8 FG) in 17 minutes. He’s not Robert Horry, but we’ll take it.
Earl Clark: C–
Shades of Trevor Ariza most days, just not this one. 11 points (4-10 FG), 3 rebounds, a block and an assists. He picked up four fouls in just over 25 minutes.
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So who did you think was the player of the game? What grades did we get wrong? And most importantly, do you think the Lakers will still make the playoffs?
Sound off in the comments and let us know.