LOS ANGELES – The start of 2017 continues to go the Clippers’ (28-14) way, as they earned their sixth straight win to start January in a Saturday afternoon matchup against the Lakers (15-29).
Here are five quick takeaways from the Clippers’ 113-97 win.
1) Jordan seeing 20/20 – DeAndre Jordan’s points and rebounds are both up in January, and Saturday afternoon showed every aspect of what he’s brought throughout this stretch. Jordan recorded his second 20-20 game of the season, finishing with 24 points, 21 rebounds and two blocks, going 12-for-13 from the floor and starting the night 10-for-10.
It was his fourth 20-rebound game in six games to start the month, and at the other end he finished with dunk after dunk. Most of Jordan’s hammers came off lobs from Chris Paul, but plenty of others got in the lobbing action, including Austin Rivers and Alan Anderson.
Jordan spent most of the night hanging from the rim, with the majority of his 12 field goals happening on dunks, and he put a ribbon on his sensational performance with fourth-quarter blocks on Marcelo Huertas and Jordan Clarkson.
2) Clippers dominate the paint – The Clippers shot 52.2 percent from the floor – their second straight game shooting better than 50 percent – mostly because of the way the guards attacked. Chris Paul had 20 points and Raymond Felton and Austin Rivers added 15 apiece, with the three combining to go 17-for-27 from inside the arc.
The Clippers outscored the Lakers by 20 points in the paint (56-36), and when the guards weren’t finishing, they were often lobbing it up to Jordan for points instead.
3) Over early – The last time these teams played at the end of December, the Clippers let a halftime lead disappear quickly in the second half. But this has been a different Clippers team since the start of January, and the 19-point lead the Clippers built by halftime provided plenty of room for error. Even after a Lakers 10-2 run to start the third, the Clippers’ advantage never got down to single digits in the second half. For the sixth straight game to start the month, the Clippers’ opponent was held to worse than 45 percent shooting.
4) Turnovers go in Clippers’ favor – The Clippers followed a season-high in turnovers by tying a season-low in the category. On Wednesday, the Clippers won despite 21 turnovers against Orlando. With another few days of rest, the Clippers responded with just seven turnovers Saturday afternoon, while doubling up the Lakers in the category, forcing 14 turnovers. The Clippers have kept their turnovers at single digits twice in their last four games, something they hadn’t done since Dec. 2.
5) Not at the line – The Clippers’ eight free-throw attempts were a season low, and the Lakers took 19 more free-throw attempts, but it didn’t matter. The Clippers still stormed ahead, taking 11 more shots and making 12 more shots than the Lakers.
What’s Next? – The Clippers host the Thunder on Monday night.