Shorthanded Clippers Fall to Lakers in Tight Battle, Fight to Maintain Playoff Position
The Los Angeles Clippers are determined to secure a top-six spot in the highly competitive Western Conference and avoid the NBA's play-in tournament. With 23 games left in the regular season, how they navigate their challenging schedule will ultimately decide their fate.
On Friday night, the Clippers missed an opportunity to strengthen their playoff position, falling 106-102 to the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena due to turnovers and poor three-point shooting. Despite the loss, the Clippers managed to hold onto the sixth spot in the West, sharing an identical 32-27 record with the surging Golden State Warriors.
The road ahead doesn’t get any easier for the Clippers. They face the Lakers again on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena, followed by a trip to Phoenix on Tuesday. They will then return home for matchups against Detroit, New York, and Sacramento — all teams battling for playoff seeding.
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue acknowledged the tough schedule but expressed confidence in his team’s ability to handle the challenge. "It’s the tough part of our schedule. We play a lot of good teams, a lot of games in this last month and a half," Lue said. "We’re slowly starting to get healthy and the guys we acquired, we just got to continue to get them up to speed. But I like where we’re at and it’s in our hands."
Among the new additions are backup guards Ben Simmons and Bogdan Bogdanovic, but the Clippers will continue to rely on stars like Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Norman Powell, and Ivica Zubac. Zubac delivered a standout performance against the Lakers, scoring 27 points on 13-of-15 shooting and grabbing 16 rebounds. Leonard added 21 points, while Harden struggled, shooting just 5-for-22 from the field, scoring 18 points, committing six turnovers, and declining to speak to the media after the game.
Turnovers proved costly for the Clippers, who committed 18, including five in the fourth quarter. Their three-point shooting also faltered in the final period, hitting just 2-of-9 attempts. Key misses included a three-pointer by Leonard with 21.5 seconds left and another by Bogdanovic with 10.2 seconds remaining, both with the team trailing by four points.
"Missed shots. Turnovers, obviously," Leonard said postgame. "And the Lakers played good basketball tonight."
The Clippers have now dropped four of their five games since the All-Star break, with Powell sidelined for all five due to a left knee strain. Despite the recent slump, they remain in the thick of the playoff race and are well aware of the importance of finishing in the top six to avoid the uncertainty of the play-in tournament.
“It’s very important for us to be able to solidify, to be in the playoffs instead of having to play in the play-in game,” Lue emphasized. “But it is what it is. Whatever challenges we have to take, we’re going to be up for that challenge. So, whether it’s keeping the sixth seed, which we want to do, whether it’s seventh or eighth, whatever, we got to continue to keep fighting to get to the playoffs and that’s our mindset.”