Los Angeles Lakers Take On Clippers Keys To Victory
- Updated: January 7, 2015
Courtesy of Flickr/ Keith Allison
The Lakers take on the Clippers tonight in a battle of Los Angeles. While the Clippers beat the Lakers in the previous meeting, they Lakers look to even up the series tonight. Let’s take a look at what the Lakers need to do in order to beat the Clippers tonight.
Kobe Bryant All-Around Game: Since Kobe Bryant rested for three games back at Christmas he has changed his style of play and it has benefitted the team. He recorded a triple-double against the Denver Nuggets, and came very close to getting another in a close loss to the Grizzlies. As Bryant looks to get his teammates more involved they begin to gain confidence to make plays down the stretch. Nick Young is one of the only players beside Bryant who has that extreme confidence so it is important that Bryant make his teammates feel important that he trust them.
As Bryant continues to find the open man and be the playmaker for the Lakers it also opens up easier scoring opportunities for himself. So much of this season so far has been about the amount of shots Bryant has taken and missed and the opposing teams have been looking for him to shoot at all times. In the last few games defenders are now not so comfortable leaving their man to help guard Bryant as he has been making the right basketball play.
Bryant has had a tendency to get lost on defense lately. He cannot leave his man open for threes as J.J. Redick has no problem knocking those down.
Defense, Defense, Defense: The Lakers are one of the worst teams in the league on the defensive end. They currently rank 29th in points allowed giving up 108 points a game. If they want to beat the face paced offense of the Los Angeles Clippers, they need to limit the fast break points with a better transition defense effort. The Clippers and their fans getting going off of steals and lobs and if you let them get out and running it could be a long night for the Lakers.
The Clippers also have plenty of three point shooters. J.J. Redick, Matt Barnes, Jamal Crawford, Chris Paul, and even Spencer Hawes are all more than capable of knocking down the trey ball. If the Lakers can run these shooters off the line and make them hit mid range jumpers that will be a win on the defensive side of the ball. A two is worth less than the 3 right?
Rebound Battle: For some strange reason the Clippers rank 26th in rebounds per game. This could be for a variety of reasons but what comes to mind is that they could be expecting and rightfully so DeAndre Jordan to clean the glass by himself. Key phrase, by himself. The Lakers can use this to their advantage and gang rebound. It will be important for Ed Davis and Jordan Hill to box out Jordan but the other Lakers on the floor need to attack the glass on both ends.
If the Lakers can limit the Clippers second chance points along with creating a few extra ones for themselves they’ll be in great shape. The Clippers love to push and sometimes forget that you need the basketball to do so. The Lakers need to grab those extra chances anytime they can get them.
The Lakers and Clippers rivalry is one that has grown over the last few years since the… Chris Paul blunder. Clippers fans I know I’m still salty about it but the Clippers should be able to take care of business against the Lakers. But hey Lakers fans a loss is a win in the draft lottery’s eyes right?
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