Los Angeles, 1/15/09 – My brother, when he reads this, will understand. I love him, but I never liked sharing a room when we were kids. Sometimes you need your own space because on occasion, life kicks you in the teeth & you need alone time to handle it. The L.A. Clippers, creamed by their Staples Center roommates by 40 points, feel me on this. Sounds of celebration from a Laker locker room across the way were probably louder for the cold, deafening silence gripping the Clippers.
Put another way, consider this: last time the Lakers did this kind of damage to the Clips, I was sharing that room with my brother, because it was 1984. For the Clippers sake, after losing 126-86, maybe it will be 26 more years until they™re ground under the Laker™s heel like this again.
Barely feeling the sore back that limited him to just 10 points against the Mavericks on Wednesday, Kobe led the Lakers with 30 points. Happy as they were about that, the Lakers were probably ecstatic over the return of Pau Gasol, whose 20 points, 6 boards, & 3 blocks showed why the purple & gold value him so highly. Gasol, out the last six games with hamstring troubles, was rusty from the field, shooting only 4/10. He earned most of his points on the free throw line, a perfect 12/12. Lakers center Andrew Bynum continued his recent strong play with 20 points & seven rebounds, taking advantage of the smaller Clippers line-up.
With the Clippers leading scorer, center Captain Caveman Chris Kaman missing the last three games, their lack of offense punch was obvious. While they hung tough through the first half, going into halftime down only three, things soon deteriorated. Outscored by 19 in the 3rd quarter, the Clipper™s frustrations reached a nadir with guard Baron Davis was whistled for a flagrant foul after nearly knocking 7 foot tall Pau Gasol over with an angry elbow. The Clips were then outscored by 18 in the final period, with no Clippers player ending the night with more than 17 points to their name.
Perhaps the Laker™s pride stung a bit from the Clipper™s surprise 102-91 win in their last meeting exactly one week ago. Perhaps by their next match-up, April 14th – both team™s last regular season game they will have learned to forgive & forget. However, with the Lakers nearly half-way through their title defending season and posting the League™s best record and the Clips best hopes trending towards getting lucky in the draft again, don™t bet on it sports fans.