| At Least For One Night – L.A. Belongs to Clippers Authored by Graham Flashner - January 27, 2005 - 6:38 pm
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Tired of the little-brother act, they rose up to deliver a kick in the pants to their older, bigger sibling, the one that always beat on them, stomped them, often humiliated them.
Yes, it finally happened. For the first time in three tries, the Los Angeles Clippers, playing a diluted home game if there ever was one, beat the Los Angeles Lakers.
Didn’t just beat them – they manhandled them, leading almost wire-to-wire, by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter, finally winning by 105-89 in front of a sellout crowd that seemed evenly divided between the teams..
So what if Kobe Bryant didn’t play? Did Lakers fans care that the last time these two teams played—a two-point Lakers victory- the Clippers were missing their big guy, Elton Brand? Of course not. For the Clippers, a win is a win, especially when it comes against a team you’ve lost to 28 times in the last 31 meetings.
It wasn’t pretty- the Clippers rarely are. They blew a series of dunks, and turned fast breaks into turnovers. For once, though, it was the other guys who made the bigger mistakes, the other guys who got into foul trouble, the other guys who were out-muscled inside.
What the game proved is that the gap between the two teams is closing fast, not that the Lakers would want to admit it. Now 3-3 without Bryant, and facing at least two more weeks without him, the Lakers looked exactly like what they are: a one-dimensional team that will probably be carried, by Bryant’s sheer will, to a first-round playoff exit. Which still may be more than can be said for the Clippers, for whom a first-round playoff appearance alone would be cause for celebration.
But no matter. Clippers guard Marko Jaric, perhaps giddy over finally being healthy enough to play, proclaimed that the gap between the two teams was virtually nil. “I still believe that we are a better team and we’re going to show them that sooner or later,” he had said on Tuesday.
Brave words from a man whose team is still two games under the .500 mark, but you can’t blame the Clips for feeling frisky. While Jaric himself didn’t do much to back up his claims – four points on 1-5 shooting- others did. Bobby Simmons hit on 8 of 10 shots for his 21 points, while Corey Maggette poured in another 20. The real difference came down low, where the Clips pounded the ball inside, letting Elton Brand (28 points, 14 rebounds, his eighth consecutive double-double) and Chris Kaman (14 points, 16 rebounds) beat up on the undersized Lakers who, without Shaq (and especially, Kobe), are looking more and more like an Eastern Conference team.
It was a rough night for former Clipper Lamar Odom, who got into early foul trouble, never found a rhythm, and was ejected from the game after drawing his second technical foul, which was prompted by his sixth personal foul.
And it was a rough night for Lakers fans used to dominating their neighbors. A couple more games like this one- gamers that really count in the standings- and the Clippers might even earn the right to call it a rivalry After losing five in a row, they’ve won back two, and have crawled to within three games of the Lakers, who are tied with the Grizzlies and T-Wolves for the final two playoff spots.
UCLA vs. USC may always be first in the hearts of Los Angeles sports fans, but if the Lakers and Clips are dueling for the final playoff spot come April, watch out. The town could be up for grabs.
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