The Los Angeles Clippers stunned the Los Angeles Lakers to win the ‘Battle of LA’. The Clippers came out on top with a 125-118 win as Russell Westbrook got his revenge on his former franchise. After the match, Anthony Davis admitted that their strategy of not guarding Westbrook backfired.
Westbrook had a significant game as he handed the initial lead to the Clippers. He made full advantage of the open looks and scored big buckets for his team. While the likes of Kawhi Leonard, Normal Powell and others handled the defence efficiently.
But later Davis made it clear that giving Westbrook open looks was not a mistake but it was a strategy that failed and it made a huge impact on the match. He shared that once Brodie got going, there was hardly any stopping him as his morale was high by then.
“He made a couple of threes, a couple of pull-ups. That’s an energy booster for them,” Anthony Davis stated after the game.
He admitted that the plan was to allow them to shoot the ball but that backfired for them massively. “Our game plan was for them to shoot the ball, and he made them. He made the shots, and that snowballed down to everybody else to start making shots,” he added.
While Westbrook did give the Clippers early momentum in the game by scoring important points, he also was lacklustre on possession later in the game. He gave the ball away cheaply many times and almost allowed the opponents to come back into the game. But it was not enough to dampen the mood of a special performance from a special player who showed great determination to fight and score crucial points.
With this win, the Clippers jump to the fifth spot in the Western Conference. They are just ahead of Golden State Warriors in sixth position and the Lakers in seventh. The Clippers have a record of 42-38. Overall the Clippers looked very solid as Westbrook finished with 14 points, four assists and three rebounds. However Powell came up with 27 points and four assists and Leonard finished with 25 points, four assists and seven boards. LeBron James scored the game-high of 33 points, seven assists and eight rebounds. Whereas Davis scored 17 points, 11 rebounds and three assists and Austin Reeves also chipped in with 20 points. But overall it was not enough for the Lakers as the Clippers had an edge over them in almost all aspects.
