In Rarity, Lakers Win on Christmas

The Lakers, behind a balanced offensive attack and a feverish effort on both sides of the ball in the third period, defeated a short-handed Clippers squad 111-102 to wrap up the Christmas slate of games.

Whatever Luke Walton said to the team at halftime, it worked. The Lakers blitzed their Staples Center roommates coming out of the locker room, increasing their activity on defense and outscoring the Clips 34-16 in the third. Luol Deng’s consecutive blocks on Luc Richard Mbah a Moute at the rim underlined the team’s renewed energy, as well as their 12-0 advantage on second chance points.

Also, I can’t forget Timofey Mozgov, who connected on five of his six shots in the quarter, including three midrange jumpahs (Mark Jackson voice). The Big White Russian finished with 19 points on the night.

The third quarter barrage gave the Lakers a 15 point cushion, which was enough to hang on for the victory, despite the Deng-Jordan Clarkson-Lou Williams-Brandon Ingram-Thomas Robinson combo giving up a quick 11-0 run to the Clippers to open the final quarter.

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Hats off to Luke Walton, though, for two sequences in particular in the fourth quarter: After an Austin Rivers layup cut the lead to four with six minutes to go, he allowed Ingram to push the advantage rather than call the TV timeout. The rook was able to hit a cutting D’Angelo, who worked a nice two-man game with Nick Young, ending with a Russell corner 3-pointer.

A moment later coming out of a timeout, the Lakers isolated Ingram posting up on Jamal Crawford, where he was able to milk his height advantage and hit a close fallaway jumper. If you remember positive small decisions (and non-decisions) like this from Byron Scott, please forward them to my inbox, because I don’t.

After losing 12 of their previous 13 games, the Lil Lakers needed a night like this. The squad looked more like its November, rather than December, incarnation, as the ball was zipping around the perimeter, leading to seven guys in Purple and Gold scoring in double figures. Deng continued his minor Lazarus impression of late, as he scored 13 points, to go along with 12 rebounds, two steals, two blocks, and an overall energy level that was missing his first 20 games in LA.

It wasn’t all candy canes and Amazon gift cards for the Lakers at the start of the game, though, as they routinely failed to find JJ Redick on the perimeter — despite Chris Paul and Blake Griffin missing the game for the Clips.

The Blue Devil was aggressive to open the game, scoring 12 of his 22 points in the first quarter, and luckily for the Lakers he’d sit out the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury. The Clips held a four point lead at the end of the first, with the Lakers needing a Thomas Robinson coast-to-coast runner at the buzzer to get them that close (seriously, you read that right).

But Ingram pumped some life into the team with his aggression in the second quarter, starting with a nifty put-back jam and a technical for shoving Austin Rivers (hard to get angry at him there). He scored eight points in the first six minutes, including a gorgeous rim-to-rim and-1 layup that helped get the crowd going. Check the Giannis-esque one dribble from the three-point line to the hoop:

These are the signs that have Lakers fans drooling over what’s to hopefully come from the 19-year-old.

Christmas is usually a classic opportunity for the Lakers to put a lump of coal in their fans’ stalkings, having went 1-6 in their past seven holiday matchups. So enjoy it, Lakers fans, and maybe they’ll keep it rolling against the Jazz on Tuesday night at Staples Center.

Game Notes

1. Luol Deng Cooked Meter: “Rare.” See above. I can’t clown him tonight, he played very well. I wish the Brit a happy Boxing Day tomorrow.
2. I love when Nick Young gets hyped up after defensive stops, as he did in the third period. Anytime Uncle P turns and yells to the crowd, it feels like he’s personally dabbing me up.
3. Speaking of Swaggy, with JR Smith going down for a few months, Mitch hopefully sent David Griffin a nice holiday gift basket in hopes of getting some late first round pick for Young.
4. Jordan Clarkson had a rough night, going 2-9 from the floor and making several ugly treks into the lane. I’ve been a JC defender, but his uneven performance this season and his overlap with D-Lo has to make the front office consider moving him.
5. The Lakers gotta phase out their white jerseys, man. The Lakers were always cool because they didn’t have white home jerseys, and these ones in particular were particularly meh.

Next: Russell stars in latest NBA Christmas commercial

What was your favorite moment of the night? Let us know in the comments below!