Los Angeles Lakers: 3 keys to beating the Clippers on Christmas Day

3.) Take advantage of the Clipper’s lack of size

For all of the versatile ways the Clippers have been able to play this season, they have one glaring weakness; a lack of size at the big man position.

Their two main players at that position are Ivica Zubac, who is a starter only name as he averages only 16.9 minutes per game. Other than that, the Clippers generally put the 6’7″ Montrezl Harrell as their five-man for the majority of the game.

This should be the primary point of attack for the Lakers, as they have the size down low to overpower this Clippers team. In the first outing, the Lakers went with a lot of post-ups for Anthony Davis, which stagnated the offense, and was overall an unsustainable way of generating reliable offense.

Since then, the team has made a concerted effort to get Davis easier shots, whether it be with more off-ball movement, an uptick in screen and roll opportunities, or setting him up in transition.

We should fully expect to see a different Anthony Davis this time around, and as we’ve seen over the course of the season, once Davis gets going and starts commanding the double team, he has been making the right read in passing out to a shooter, or a short lob to the uncovered big man.

Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee should also have a field day with this undersized Clippers roster and should have no problem crashing the boards and getting easy putbacks.