The Lakers are currently in shambles and the Clippers have taken advantage of their rivals’ situation, defeating them 132-111 at Crypto.com Arena to maintain coach Ty Lue’s unbeaten record against the Lakers since taking over as head coach in Los Angeles.
The Clippers were led by Reggie Jackson’s 36 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
NBA LEAGUE PASS: Sign up to unlock live out-of-market games (7-day free trial)
The Lakers were blown out of the game in the third quarter when they were outscored 40-18 by a Clippers team playing without Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Norman Powell.
MORE: Why LeBron James, Lakers can’t tank: Who benefits from Los Angeles’ bad season?
Coach Lue, who turned down the Lakers head coaching position in 2019 because they didn’t offer him a longer-term contract continued his undefeated run against them since then. He is now 7-0 in games against the Lakers, completing his second consecutive season sweep on Thursday.
Ty Lue turned down the Lakers coaching job in 2019 because the Lakers didn’t want to give him a longer contract.
His Clippers are 7-0 vs the Lakers. pic.twitter.com/ci5Dj0soUc
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 4, 2022
Lue and James are familiar with each other from their Cleveland days, as they led the franchise to a championship from 3-1 down in the Finals in 2016.
Lue had coached 347 games heading into Thursday’s game, and it appears that the Lakers have become his new favorite opposition.
MORE: Despite poor stretch, Russell Westbrook ‘super confident’ in Lakers’ playoff hopes
In late February, following a win over the Lakers, Lue said his team didn’t even prepare for that match-up.
“We didn’t even prepare for them,”Lue stated. “We just basically worked on ourselves, our small-ball lineup, things we needed to get better at. It’s not about the Lakers, it’s about us going forward, getting better every game.”
“Keep challenging at the rim.” -Ty Lue
📺 @NBAonTNT | #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/jElfXKaINj
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) March 4, 2022
The Lakers, meanwhile are in freefall.
Outside of the Jazz, they are just 1-15 in games vs. teams with a .500 record since Dec. 15, with their sole win coming at the expense of a Nets team that was minus Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
At 27-35, the Lakers hold just a one-game lead over the Pelicans for the West’s 10th seed with exactly 20 games remaining.
Fortunately for the Lakers, none of those remaining games come against the Clippers.