The Los Angeles Clippers, with newly acquired point guard Chris Paul alongside Blake Griffin, overtook the Lakers in their first preseason contest, 114-95. As AP reported:
Chris Paul had 17 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in his Los Angeles Clippers debut and Chauncey Billups made an equally impressive first impression with his new club, scoring 23 points in a 114-95 victory over the Lakers on Monday night.
The first of two preseason games between the teams followed a dizzying two-week media frenzy in both camps, during which time the Clippers acquired Paul from New Orleans right after the league squashed a proposed three-way deal that would have sent him to the Lakers.
Blake Griffin had 12 points for the Clippers in a foul-plagued 25 minutes. Last season’s rookie of the year picked up his third foul with 5:44 left in the second quarter, then received a technical foul about 2 minutes later for hanging on the rim too long after converting Billups’ pass to him off the glass into a fast-break slam dunk.
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Bryant had 22 points in about 30 minutes, Pau Gasol scored 16 and Andrew Bynum added 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Rookie point guard Darius Morris, a second-round draft pick out of Michigan and the first player off the Lakers’ bench, beat the first-quarter buzzer with a 20-footer that tied the score at 28. He pulled them even again at 35 with a 3-pointer and finished with 11 points in about 24 minutes.
For Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, who were close to signing Chris Paul just a short time before the Clippers announced their deal, the loss underscored the swing that could results in a new era of the Lakers-Clippers rivalry. As Matt Brooks explained:
f you watched last night’s Lakers-Clippers preseason game, you may have had a hard time distinguishing the 16-time NBA champions from one of the most downtrodden franchises in professional sports.
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Sure, the names on the jerseys, team colors and many of the recognizable players remain the same, but the Clippers' 114-95 win served notice that "the other team from L.A." is poised to move up the ladder in the Western Conference.
Newly-acquired point guard Chris Paul nearly notched a triple-double (17 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) and fellow newcomer Chauncey Billups added 23 points to lead a team that bears little resemblance to the squad that went 32-50 last season.
Remember Blake Griffin's "lob city" comment after Paul's trade was finalized last week? Well Billups took care of that, too, serving one up off the glass for Griffin to throw down for two of his 12 points.
But Griffin still has some room for improvement in his second season: foul trouble limited him to 25 minutes, and he was hit with a technical foul for hanging on the rim too long after the Billups alley-oop pass.
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Still, the first look at the 2011-12 Clippers should only add to the building excitement for the team's beleaguered fanbase.
And for the first time in a long time, the Lakers appear to be heading in the opposite direction. After watching NBA Commissioner David Stern veto their proposed deal for Paul, the team dealt valuable swingman Lamar Odom to the Mavericks. And their biggest offseason additions — forward Josh McRoberts and new head coach Mike Brown — won't do much to convince fans the team is ready to make another title run.
Yes, it's one preseason game in which the Lakers had a distracted Kobe Bryant and were without starting point guard Derek Fisher. Are the Clippers going to overtake their Staples Center roommates overnight? Doubtful. But it appears they're quickly closing the gap.
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The newly-charged Lakers-Clippers rivalry is just one facet of the NBA season, which after being threatened by a legal dispute returns on Christmas. As Norman Chad wrote:
So the NBA is back in business on Sunday – not just any Sunday, but Christmas, baby! – with a Santa-busting slate of five TV games. There will be NBA games coming down your chimney, NBA games under your tree, even NBA games spinning on the coffee table like dreidel tops.
Nothing says Christmas Day like LeBron James's crab dribble.
Nothing says Christmas Day like Craig Sager in purple and plaid.
Nothing says Christmas Day like Stan Van Gundy pleading for a call in your living room.
Credit the NBA for cutting through all the spiritual pretense of the holiday and declaring Christmas what it really is: The manifestation of our most conspicuous consumption, the culmination of America's busiest annual shopping spree and, now, a day to reflect on the Dallas Mavericks' remarkable championship run.
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Hey, I’m just glad the NBA is back. Sure, it was hip and fashionable during the long lockout to say, “I don’t even miss the NBA.” Not me, fella. Couch Slouch is anything but hip and fashionable; besides, how does one fill all those Kobe-less nights? You think my DVR was working overtime recording Panthers-Predators NHL games?
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