Lakers Used Balanced Attack To Defeat Clippers

Once deemed the “Hallway Series” during their time sharing Crypto.com Arena, the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers met on a rainy Friday night in Southern California for what was a respective second game of the season for both teams.

Austin Raves scored 28 points to lead the Lakers to a win, as they improved to 2-0. A strong third quarter wound up swinging the game in the Lakers’ favor and they generally maintained momentum from that point on. Though, the Clippers did make a push late in the fourth quarter as their deficit was cut to single digits at one point.

All five Lakers starters scored at least 10 points in the win.

Lakers 125, Clippers 117: key takeaways

Walker Kessler not perfect

Coming off a remarkable 12-for-12 performance in his Lakers debut, Walker Kessler had his first shot attempt blocked. He wound up missing four shots on 14 attempts.

Kessler continued to be a presence in the paint on both sides of the floor, and was plenty effective in pick-and-roll and lob situations. He has now scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.

Where Kessler stands to improve upon is with free throw shooting.

Collin Sexton’s debut

While the Lakers didn’t have Jake LaRavia available because of a sprained right ankle, Collin Sexton made his debut against the Clippers. He had been battling a right calf injury.

Sexton’s first minutes of action left plenty to be desired as he turned the ball over and committed a bad foul. Sexton did come up with three steals in his 16 minutes of action.

Rui Hachimura tribute video

Friday’s game marked the first time Rui Hachimura played against the Lakers since leaving the team in free agency this past offseason. The Lakers welcomed him back with a special video during the break in the action in the first quarter.