The Los Angeles Lakers and the LA Clippers share the same arena and on Friday night for the ESPN doubleheader the team will be playing the late matchup at 10:30 PM at the Staples Center and is a battle for the home court and the two teams will face off without their biggest stars in Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul and the game will be streaming online from the WatchESPN website.
Bryant has been out since coming down with another injury after making his Achilles comeback and Paul is dealing with an injury as well and now the Lakers and Clippers will try and win without their superstars. The Lakers have dealt with injuries all season to their big players in Bryant and Steve Nash and they will be relying even more on Pau Gasol going forward and Kendall Marshall will need to keep playing well at point guard to have any chance of turning the season around this year. The team is just 14-22 on the season and the playoffs seem out of reach as they sit in fourth place in the Pacific division and a win here would be a big step forward for the team despite Paul being out.
Blake Griffin is leading the Clips in scoring without Paul and the Lakers defense will need to watch out for him, as the team is giving up nearly 105 points per game this season and the offense is only putting in 99 on average in points per game and that could mean trouble on Friday night. The Lakers come into the game after a loss to the Houston Rockets and they next will play against the Cleveland Cavaliers next week and the team has a massive road trip coming up due to the Staples Center and games on that trip includes the Miami Herat and the New York Knicks.
Nick Young led the Lakers in scoring in that game, while Marshall was tops in assists with eight and Gasol led in rebounds with 12 and that came after some solid play from Marshall, dropping 20 points and 15 assists last week as he took over the starting PG job. The Clippers are coming into the game after a win over the Celtics and they are currently first in the Pacific with 25 wins and they have the Mavericks on Wednesday at home next. The team got 29 points and eight assists from Griffin on Wednesday against Boston and now he will be the key player against the Lakers.
Check here for the Lakers and Clippers live coverage.