The fresh-looking Los Angeles Lakers handled their business and withstood stretches of sloppy play to get away with an 87-81 victory over city rival Los Angeles Clippers.
Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis together with Markieff Morris, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and newly-acquired Marc Gasol all sat out, which gave Lakers head coach Frank Vogel a comprehensive look at their other new acquisitions. As expected by many, the game went down the wire, the Los Angeles reported.
The revamped Purple and Gold squad did have a solid start as Montrezl Harrell drained a mid-range jumper to start the game and drew an offensive in the opening quarter.
The German Lakers guard, Dennis Schroder, made his presence felt early in the game. He got going from the field after getting to the rim for a layup and drained a shot beyond the arc to give the Lakers a slim lead halfway past the opening quarter. Their bench closed the first period with a 25-22 lead.
According to Bleacher Report, after drawing considerable praise from head coach Frank Vogel, 'THT' or Talen Horton-Tucker, started the second period displaying a nifty and-one and followed it up with a set up to his teammate Devontae Cacok inside the shaded area.
Despite having a slow start, the Los Angeles Clippers found their groove on offense courtesy of Paul George and the control of Kawhi on the game, giving them the lead, 34-30.
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Minutes before the halftime, the LA Lakers suffered another ragged stretch as scoring was scarce, while their city rival Clippers were able to stay in the driver seat after hitting transition buckets.
However, Harrell and Quinn Cook ignited a run towards the end of the quarter as the purple and gold squad closed out the halftime down by only a possession, 46-43.
At the start of the second half, the Lakers deployed their starters while the Clippers opted to rest George and Leonard in favor of their second unit.
Harrell and Schroder did their best in carrying the offensive end for the Lakers, but clearly, they were still trying to find their footing alongside their new teammates.
Another Lakers starter, Horton-Tucker, continued to impress after finishing through contact on a drive and showed some defensive stops, which translated to points at the other end.
However, the Lakers also committed some turnovers along the way that allowed the Clippers to stay at the lead, as the Lakers found themselves down by one possession heading into the fourth, 61-59.
The Clippers' third unit found an opening early in the fourth, which extended their lead. However, their former teammate Harrell exhibited heavy activity on both ends of the floor, which sparked some life for the Lakers squad that resulted in good ball movement as they took over late in the fourth.
The Lakers were able to get into the bonus midway through the fourth with Kyle Kuzma knocking down a pair at the charity stripe to give them the lead. Horton-Tucker also successfully converted a three-point play. Kuzma puts the dagger after hitting the shot in the rainbow territory to seal their first game in the pre-season, Lakers Nation reported.
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