Getty Tyronn Lue of the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Los Angeles Clippers destroyed the Los Angeles Lakers by a final score of 132-111 on March 3 to sweep the teams’ season series 4-0. The Lakers trailed by as many as 30 points in the third quarter after trailing by only three at halftime.
LAL is 27-35. They have yet to win since the All-Star break. However, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue still believes in the purple and gold.
“When they get to the playoffs [or] the play-in game, I guarantee you that you don’t want to see that 8 seed, or whatever seed they are going to play in,” Lue told reporters after the game. “They’re not out of it.”
The Clippers outscored the Lakers 40-18 in the third quarter. Reggie Jackson scored 36 points, shooting 14-of-30 from the field and hitting 4-of-8 3-point attempts.
“We came out on a mission,” Jackson said, according to the Associated Press. “We wanted to close out. We’re still a hungry team. … We feel like we’re writing our own story. We know what the narrative is with our guys out. We’re trying to do something special with this group. It’s about this team, to write our own story.”
Since becoming the Clippers’ head coach in 2020, Lue hasn’t lost to the Lakers. LeBron James’ former head coach in Cleveland, who guided the Cavaliers to the 2016 championship, believes the Lakers have to “figure out how they want to play.”
Lue Still Believes in Lakers
Lue told reporters he believed the Lakers were a team that few would want to face in the playoffs. It was an eye-catching statement since the purple and gold are in ninth place in the Western Conference and have the 22nd-ranked net rating in the league.
“I think they have the most starting lineups in the NBA,” Lue said after the game. “Just figuring out how they want to play, small or big, AD (Anthony Davis) is back, AD is out, Bron was out. So it is just tough. They are a really good team. They just have to figure out how they want to play, but they also got to figure out their health situation. That is what has been really hurting them all season.”
If the Lakers, losers of four in a row, do make it to the playoffs, it appears it would have to be through advancing from the four-team play-in tournament. However, it’s worth mentioning that they are two games away from falling out of the play-in tournament, with the New Orleans Pelicans (10th seed) trailing them by one game and the Portland Trail Blazers (11th seed) two games back.
The Lakers would need to secure the seventh, eighth, ninth or 10th seed to be in the play-in tournament. Things look bleak for them, but head coach Frank Vogel isn’t giving up.
Vogel: ‘There’s No Quit in Us’
It appeared as if the Lakers quit in the third quarter against the Clippers. They had more turnovers (4) than 3-point field goals (2) and shot 33.3% from the floor. Meanwhile, the Clippers shot 63.6% overall and made five 3-pointers.
Despite the Lakers’ poor body language and performance, though, Vogel said he doesn’t believe his players have packed it in.
“We’ll leave no stone unturned in terms of trying to find solutions to get this right,” Vogel said, according to the Associated Press. “But it hasn’t taken shape. There’s no quit in us. We will continue to persist. We’re trying to adjust and shift and find ways to win with Anthony out. We haven’t found that yet. But it’s not something that we can’t do. We just haven’t found it yet.”
The Lakers are back in action on March 5 when they host the Golden State Warriors, who are 2-0 against LAL this season.