Tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET the battle for Los Angeles resumes, as the Clippers (42-20) will be visitors in their own building, the Staples Center, when they face off with the lowly Lakers (21-40) on TNT. Live stream the game by clicking this link; Clips fans can find the radio broadcast on KFWB 980, while Lakers fans can tune in to 710 ESPN.
The Clippers have ripped off wins in each of their last five games, and are in a clear groove. Even defensive-minded forward Matt Barnes exploded on Tuesday vs. the Phoenix Suns, hanging a career-high 28 points on them.
"I just wanted to be aggressive," Barnes said. "I had a couple of open looks and they were closing out hard and it gave me some looks at the basket so I was just taking what they gave to me and I was able to knock them down."
A win tonight would mark the longest winning streak of the year for the Clippers, while the Lakers are searching for some semblance of positivity in this bleak, injury-racked campaign.
"Hopefully you put yourself in a position where you get stops constantly, and you don't have to struggle and scramble at the end with desperation," losing-weary center Pau Gasol said. "We just have to be locked in at both ends of the floor ... we really have to be disciplined on the defensive end so they don't score so easily."
The Lakers have surrendered an NBA-worst 106.9 points per game this year, and they let the New Orleans Pelicans shoot 59.7 percent from the field Tuesday night in a 132-125 defeat.
On the plus side for the Lakers, the Clips are currently without sharpshooting guard J.J. Redick and sixth man Jamal Crawford, so unless Barnes can come up with that hot scoring again they'll be absent some firepower.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
