Getty Lakers' LeBron James drives against the Clippers
There’s a disturbing pattern developing for the Lakers faithful in two seasons since LeBron James came to town: He appears to have a really hard time against the Clippers. That was evident in the much-anticipated matchup on Christmas Day at Staples Center, which saw James go 9-for-24 from the field with 23 points, making just two of his 12 3-pointers in a loss.
The critical play in which Clippers guard Patrick Beverley knocked the ball out of James’ hands with 3.4 seconds remaining and the Lakers trailing by 3 points, forcing James into a turnover, will get most of the attention from the Christmas game. But James struggled in Wednesday’s matchup well before that play, especially in the early going.
James was 4-for-9 shooting in the fourth quarter. Before that, he was 5-for-15, including 0-for-7 to start the game. James did not score until making a layup with 5:28 to play in the second quarter. He made all of his midrange shots in the game but only took three. He was only 4-for-9 (44.4 percent) in the paint, a particularly poor showing for a guy who is normally a 60.9 percent shooter from that range.
James put the blame, partly at least, on a reaggravation of the back-and-groin injury that kept him out of the Lakers’ last game, a loss to the Nuggets.
“I felt healthy going into the game,” James told reporters after the game. “The second or third defensive possession, I got kneed in the groin taking a charge from Pat Bev(erley). That kind of sent me back to where I was five days ago.”
LeBron James’ Clippers Struggles an Ongoing Issue
But health can’t entirely explain James’ struggles against the cross-locker-room rivals over his last four games against them. In the Lakers’ loss to the Clippers on Opening Night, James had 18 points—his second-lowest output of the season—on 7-for-19 shooting and 1-for-6 on 3-point shooting.
In four games playing against the Clippers since he arrived in Los Angeles in the Summer of 2018, James has averaged 23.0 points on 40.9 percent shooting. James has made only five of the 29 3-pointers he’s taken against the Clippers as a Laker, or 17.2 percent. The Lakers have lost three of the four games against the Clippers with James playing.
That could be significant when this spring comes around. The Lakers and Clippers are among the NBA’s best teams, the Lakers still tops in the West with a 24-7 record and the Clippers at 20-8, third in the conference behind the Nuggets.
The next opportunity for the Lakers to exact revenge on the Clippers will be on January 28 in what will be a home game for the Lakers.
The more immediate concern, though, is the four-game losing streak the Lakers find themselves on. The losses came without James in one and without fellow star Anthony Davis in another and were at the hands of four of the league’s best teams.
But the Lakers entered the season with a goal of not losing consecutive games at all this year. A four-game string was most definitely not in the plans.
“They got stops, they made shots,” James told reporters. “When we got stops, we weren’t able to counter on the other end and make shots. We’ll watch the film at our next practice and see ways we can get better. It’s a long season, it’s a marathon, so, you know, it was a great atmosphere. We had a chance to win. But they made the plays.”
On this night, the Lakers—and James especially—did not make the plays. Against the Clippers, that’s becoming a bit too normal.
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