Alex Caruso's Career-High 32 Leads Lakers to Win over Lou Williams, Clippers
Although the Los Angeles Lakers are already eliminated from the playoff picture, they can play spoiler for other teams with postseason aspirations. That's what they did Friday, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers 122-117 at Staples Center.
With Friday's loss, the Clippers are now only a half-game ahead of the seventh-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder and one game up on the eighth-seeded San Antonio Spurs.
With Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram and LeBron James all out for what's left of the season, Alex Caruso led the short-handed Lakers with a career-high 32 points and 10 rebounds in 38 minutes.
Lou Williams had 18 points off the bench in a losing effort for the Clippers, while Danilo Gallinari finished with 27 points and six rebounds.
Clippers Need to Embrace the 3 to Make Postseason Noise
Of the realistic scenarios still on the table, the Houston Rockets represent a nightmare situation for the Clippers in the opening round.
Los Angeles won the regular-season series over Houston, but its two wins came within roughly a week after the 2018-19 campaign started. Both the Clippers and the Rockets are different teams compared to that point of the year.
They met Wednesday, with the Rockets dropping 135 points on the Clippers in a comfortable victory. In what might be a preview of what's to come, Houston shot 18-of-38 from beyond the arc, while Los Angeles finished 8-of-26.
Entering Friday, the Clippers were second in three-point percentage (38.6) but tied for 23rd in made threes (10.0 per game). Friday's loss was more of the same; L.A. was 10-of-29 on three-pointers.
The Clippers don't have the shooters to match the Rockets shot for shot, so they'd be foolish to radically transform their offense to mimic Houston's.
At the same time, Los Angeles can't afford to rely so heavily on shots close to the basket if it has any hope of a first-round upset.
According to NBA.com, the Clippers are averaging the eighth-most field-goal attempts inside the restricted area (30.8) and the seventh-most shots in the paint (16.5). While Montrezl Harrell and Ivica Zubac are effective inside scorers, they won't strike fear in the heart of a postseason opponent.
Over a seven-game playoff series, the Rockets might have one bad shooting night that would effectively cost them a game against the Clippers; Los Angeles couldn't count on that happening enough to swing the series.
Simply reaching the postseason is a big accomplishment for a team that went into selling mode near the Feb. 7 trade deadline, sending Tobias Harris along with Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott to the Philadelphia 76ers. Without making some tweaks to his offensive approach, though, head coach Doc Rivers is probably looking at a quick playoff exit.
What's Next?
The Lakers host the Utah Jazz on Sunday and then the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday in their final games. The Clippers hit the road for a difficult contest against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday at Oracle Arena and then play the Jazz at Staples Center on Wednesday. The latter matchup could impact the middle of the Western Conference playoff field.
