There will be far more than pride on the line as the Battle of L.A. resumes Friday with plenty at stake for both the Los Angeles Clippers and the host Los Angeles Lakers.
While the Lakers hope to have all of their stars in place for the fourth and final matchup of the regular season, the Clippers — who lead the season series 2-1 — will continue a daunting back-to-back challenge as they return from the All-Star break.
Luka Doncic is scheduled to return for the Lakers after missing the last four games before the break with a hamstring injury. Doncic did return to play a token five minutes in Sunday’s All-Star Game, scoring two points on three shots from the floor.
Injuries have limited the Lakers’ star trio of Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves to just 10 games together all season. James missed the opening 14 games of the season with sciatica and Reaves missed all of January with a calf issue. Reaves no longer will be on a minutes restriction Friday.
“I know that when we’ve played some of our best basketball of the season, we’ve looked very good,” James said. “On the other side, when we’ve been terrible, we’ve looked disgusting.”
“So, I think the most important is, if we can get healthy, how many minutes we can be on the floor, how much chemistry we can build with this sprint starting.”
Despite their health challenges, the Lakers are in fifth place in the Western Conference, percentage points ahead of the Minnesota Timberwolves and eight games behind the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder. Doncic leads the league with an average of 32.8 points per game.
Ninth in the Western Conference standings, the Clippers improved to 21-7 since Dec. 20 by hanging on for a 115-114 victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets on Thursday. Bennedict Mathurin scored a season-high 38 points in his Clippers home debut, while Kawhi Leonard added 23 points.
Derrick Jones Jr. had 22 points but committed what could have been a costly foul on a 3-point attempt by Jamal Murray with 0.9 seconds remaining. Murray missed the last of his three free throws when another make would have sent the game into overtime.
While the Clippers’ trade of James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers grabbed the most attention, Mathurin was acquired from the Indiana Pacers in a deal that cost Los Angeles big man Ivica Zubac.
“We can’t run a lot of plays because (Mathurin) doesn’t know a lot of them yet, but we do know concepts,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “… The second half was a lot better, better spacing, getting to the next actions and running the right stuff.”
After getting past a playoff-bound team in the Nuggets, who have a pair of All-Stars in Murray and Nikola Jokic, the Clippers have a similar challenge Friday. The Lakers are also sitting in a playoff position and have a pair of All-Stars, James and Doncic.
“It’s tough playing against (Jokic). He’s the best in the world and he puts you in tough positions,” said Lue, whose team trailed by 10 points in the third quarter and was down by six with eight minutes left. “We got down, we continued to fight and we came away with the win.”
Leonard has scored at least 20 points in 34 consecutive games, the second-longest active 20-point streak in the NBA.
