Bold Picks And Predictions For The Battle Of LA Clash!

Battle of LA Clash

It never gets old, and no I’m not talking about the amazing Southern California weather. However, it is pretty nice.

It’s time for the two sole teams in LA to matchup once again. The Los Angeles Lakers are set to face up against the LA Clippers at the beautiful Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Ca.

Here are a few predictions for the LA based matchup:

The Lakers–Clippers Rivalry is about bragging rights, not team records

The Lakers have a 120-66 record over the Clippers. During the 2000’s it was all about the Lakers led by prime Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant owning the little brother Clippers.

Most of the 2010s, it switched to prime “Lob City Clippers” getting the best of Bryant and would follow against non-competitive Lakers teams. In the 2020’s, post “Lob City” era, the domination continued for the Clippers with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George leading them to 11 wins in a row over the Lakers led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Within the last two seasons, it has been the first time that neither team has been one sided beating the other in head-to-head matchups. Which means, this calls for good basketball. In a rivalry game like this, where one side will be for the Clippers and the other for the Lakers. Team records can be put to the side.

In game predictions

The Lakers are coming off an important win versus a high-powered Denver Nuggets team. Luka Doncic had a game high of 38 points going 12-21 from the field. This has been a player who has been very successful in having great individual performances versus the Clippers for his career. With Doncic, not fully completing a game at Intuit Dome, he will be hungry to put on a game high scoring game performance against primary defenders Kris Dunn and Nico Batum. James will serve as an equalizer, picking his spots in the game where he will make an impact. Finish the game somewhere with 20-25 points, 7 rebs, and 5 assists.

The Clippers’ mismatch versus the Lakers will be Ivica Zubac. With the uncertainty of Deandre Ayton, who matches up with Zubac well. Another dominant double-double performance coming for the “big man” for the Clippers. Based on the last two meetings, John Collins has been the most productive player for the Clippers versus the Lakers. He will be a solid piece of scoring and defending, but it still won’t be enough. James Harden’s three-point shot will be a question mark, which will force him to try and provide foul opportunities to get his scoring going from the free throw line.

The Outcome Depends on the availability of Kawhi Leonard

Yes. We are back here again. Leonard has missed the last three games, which have been ruled as left knee irritation. In those three games, the Clippers were able to go 2-1 on their road trip.

In Leonard’s last 13 games he has averaged 32.7 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 3.8 apg, 2.6 spg, and 1.0 bpg with shooting splits of 50.7/44.0/91.6. During that stretch, Leonard achieved a Western Conference player of the Week (Dec 22^nd-Dec 28^Th), a career high 55-point game performance vs DET, and the Clippers going 11-2 getting back into the playoff race.

That is what makes Leonard’s ability the most vital thing not only for the Clippers but the contest in general. His impact offensively and defensively offsets the Lakers gameplan to zoom in on Harden or Zubac. If Leonard plays, I suspect the game will be close with the Clippers pulling out the win. However, if Leonard doesn’t play then the Lakers will continue their winning streak and win decisively.