The Los Angeles Lakers have been going through a tough season while dealing with another injury to star Kobe Bryant and on Friday night the team will face off against its Staples Center co-tenant in the LA Clippers and they will be the visiting team and the matchup will be starting at 8 pm on TV and will also be streaming on WatchESPN.

The Lakers are coming into the matchup after a tough road loss against the Houston Rockets and now they come into the game against the Clippers looking to creep back to .500 and it comes of course as Pau Gasol has been mentioned in trade rumors again. The Lakers come into the matchup looking towards a game next week against the Cleveland Cavaliers and they are scoring just under 100 points per game this season and the defense has been weak, ranking 28^th in the league in defense with over 104 points allowed per game and they will need to try and shut down the Clippers offense on Friday night.

Nick Young is leading the team in scoring, while the Lakers are 14-22 on the season and fourth in the pacific division and are chasing the first place Clippers. LA, the Clippers that is, come into the matchup off of a win against the Boston Celtics are home and they have another home matchup coming against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. The Clippers are fifth in the NBA in scoring with nearly 105 points per game and are ranked 13^th in defense and they will be a tough team to beat on Friday for the Lakers. The team is ranked 18^th in rebounding and fourth in assists and Chris Paul has been banged up recently and will play without him against the Lakers.

Blake Griffin has been excellent for the team and he is leading in scoring, while the Clippers are first in the division over the surprising Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors, while the Lakers are in fourth ahead of the Kings. The Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets are playing their nickname jersey game at 8 pm on ESPN and that should be fun to watch and heading into the back stretch of January, the Lakers have a tough schedule with games on the road against the Suns, Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and NY Knicks on a massive road trip that has the team playing seven games on the road in a row and eight of the next nine games.