The Los Angeles Lakers beat the LA Clippers 125-117 on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena for their second win to start the NBA season, according to The Associated Press.
Austin Reaves led the Lakers with 28 points and nine assists, while Walker Kessler added 22 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots, according to the Associated Press reports carried by theScore and TSN. Luka Doncic scored 23 points but committed a career-high 11 turnovers on a difficult night for last season's NBA scoring leader.
The Lakers trailed by four points at the end of the first quarter and were tied at half-time, according to the game reports, before taking control in the third quarter. Kessler was central to that surge: after missing his first shot in a Lakers uniform, he made his next eight, and a block on Derrick Jones Jr. led to a Reaves three-pointer that pushed the lead to 89-77 in the third.
The Clippers, who had routed Sacramento in their season opener, fought back late. According to the Associated Press, Darius Garland scored 26 points and six assists for the Clippers, and Brook Lopez scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half. The Lakers' lead was cut to six points with just over three minutes remaining, before Reaves and Kessler made the decisive plays down the stretch.
It was the Lakers' ninth win in their last 13 meetings with their crosstown rivals, according to the Associated Press. Six Lakers scored at least 13 points, including 14 from newcomer Ziaire Williams, while Rui Hachimura scored 16 points and six rebounds in his first game back against his former team.
What happens next: the Clippers travel to Oklahoma City on Sunday, while the Lakers visit Utah the same day, according to the Associated Press. For the Lakers, the early question is whether they can clean up the turnovers — 21 as a team on Friday — while keeping the balanced scoring and interior defence that have carried them to 2-0.
Photo: BrianReading, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.