Clippers at Lakers
The Los Angeles Clippers will face a team riddled with injuries for the second consecutive night when they host the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. The Clippers slipped by the Oklahoma City Thunder in their season opener Thursday, but only by three points against a team that was down to eight players because of injuries. The Lakers aren’t that bad off but they’re still reeling after the loss of rookie Julius Randle to a season-ending broken leg in their season opener Tuesday.
Clippers point guard Chris Paul figures to come out with fire in his eyes against a team he was traded to two years ago, only to have the deal nixed by then-commissioner David Stern, leaving Paul to be dealt to the Clippers. Paul, a career 85.7 percent free-throw shooter coming into the season, missed two free throws with 13 seconds left that would have extended the lead to three against the Thunder, but Los Angeles still managed to win by that margin. The Lakers will likely continue to feed the ball to Kobe Bryant, who took 25 field-goal attempts in a 20-point loss to the Suns on Wednesday, while the four remaining starters combined for 25 shots.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Prime Ticket (Clippers), TWC SportsNet (Lakers)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (1-0): Paul’s missed free throws was more of an aberration against Oklahoma City, but there were a few troubling performances during the game. J.J. Redick finished 1-for-10 from the field and Jamal Crawford was 5-for-15, two players who will be counted on to stretch the defense and keep defenses off the back of All-Star power forward Blake Griffin. DeAndre Jordan should find his matchup appealing as the Lakers don’t have a true center in the starting five, instead using undersized Jordan Hill in that role.
ABOUT THE LAKERS (0-2): There are almost too many areas of improvement to count for the Lakers, but one that stands out is scoring from the point-guard spot. Jeremy Lin has shown flashes of offensive ability in the past, yet he has taken just five shots in each of the first two games and combined to make three. Backup point guards Ronnie Price and Jordan Clarkson have shown more of a willingness to shoot the ball during the preseason, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if they started to eat away at Lin’s minutes.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Lakers haven’t started a season 0-3 since 1978.
2. The Clippers won their last three games against the Lakers by an average of 35.7 points.
3. Griffin was 5-for-9 on shots from 17 feet or beyond against the Thunder.