Clippers guard Norman Powell’s last-second 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer and the Los Angeles Lakers were able to snap a four-game skid with a 106-103 win Sunday, providing a sigh of relief for a team that had been in a tailspin.
“Try to use this to try to catapult a little bit better play from us,” LeBron James, who led all scorers with 25 points, said after the game at Crypto.com Arena. “But it still doesn’t take away from the fact of how we’ve been playing like the last 11, 12 games. Tonight was a good start. Hopefully we can start from here and continue to build.”
The Lakers’ shaky play actually extended back 13 games, as they were just 3-10 since winning the in-season tournament coming into Sunday.
Beyond better execution — holding a Clippers team that was 14-2 in its past 16 games to just 39.6% shooting — the Lakers also benefited from more healthy bodies for coach Darvin Ham to use in his rotation.
D’Angelo Russell returned from a three-game absence because of a bruised tailbone to contribute 13 points and 6 assists off the bench — with 11 of those points coming in the second half — and Jarred Vanderbilt, who has been hampered by an injured left heel, looked like the type of impact player on the defensive end who was so important in L.A.’s run to the conference finals last spring.
James said the Lakers had “too many mistakes still” to believe they’ve turned everything around in a macro sense. Taurean Prince got an individual shot at redemption in a micro sense when he fouled Powell on a 3-pointer with 2:19 remaining in the fourth, allowing the Clippers guard to tie the game with three free throws, but then hit a 3 of his own and two more free throws in the final 1:17 to help the Lakers win.
“I made that big mistake. … I just totally misjudged it,” Prince said of the foul on Powell. “So I immediately told myself I want to get that play back and the opportunity came and I just took advantage of it.”