Clippers vs Lakers.

Clippers vs Lakers. This is a huge game and could end up being the decider in who wins the Pacific Division. The Lakers, with a 34-20 record, currently hold a 1.5 game lead on the 32-21 Clippers. The head to head series is tied at 1-1, and the winner will own the tie breaker. The Clippers had a horrible March record of 11-9. This was bolstered by the last week of March where they won 5 in a row. They continued this win streak into April by blowing out the Mavs in Dallas. This win streak is mostly due to two things that were not happening since Billups went down. Firstly, the Clippers were finally getting production from their 2 and 3 spots. During this win streak, Butler has averaged 10.8 points and more importantly has shot over 50% in 5 of the 6 games. Foye He has finally started to consistently hit his 3’s, hitting 46% during this stretch, which has been a huge reason in his increase in scoring. He has averaged 16 points during this stretch and has hit a ridiculous 22 3 pointers, capped by his 8 Monday night in Dallas.

Since Billups went down, Randy Foye has been inconsistent in his scoring. This coincided with Butler going through a massive slump as well. When 3 of your starters are not producing consistently, DJ has been very inconsistent as well, and your bench isn’t scoring, it’s going to be very tough to find a way to win. And Secondly, the Clippers have FINALLY started to work hard on defense. Their rotations are finally working and shooters are not being left open. The intensity that was lacking on defense for most of the year has finally showed up. Through this streak the Clippers have allowed 87.3 points per game. They have held their opponents to under 90 points in 4 of the 6 games, and even held the Mavs to 75 points IN Dallas. They’ve forced their opponents into bad shots, and most importantly, they’ve gotten turnovers. With the personnel the Clippers have, these turnovers lead into momentum shifting fast break dunks that get the crowd and players excited. It’s brought the fun back into the game. Oddly this turn of fates and coincided with Mo Williams being injured. While this may be looking too far into something, there is some truth here. Mo Williams being out has opened up time for Bledsoe. While Bledsoe is not a scorer, his defensive intensity has been huge for the Clippers second unit. He is one of their best perimeter defenders and has helped to keep the opposing guards quiet. Mo Williams is a great, streaky scorer. When he goes off from 3, there is no stopping him. But he is a huge liability on defense. While Williams and Bledsoe are both listed as 6’ 1, 195, Mo lacks the hunger on defense that Bledsoe possesses. It will be interesting to see what happens when Mo returns from injury.

For most of March the Clippers players looked frustrated. And with the way they were playing, they were right to be frustrated. Their defensive intensity was not there, players were missing open shots, and they were lacking consistency. While this recent 6 game streak is only a short span of games, the signs looks good. If they are able to keep this defensive intensity up along with getting production from Foye and Butler, it will be a very tough game for the Lakers and a tough series for whoever they play in the playoffs.

The Lakers on the other side have been all over the place. They play hard and build big leads only to blow them late. They can’t rely on Kobe bailing them out every game, and this has been their biggest problem. In cliché terms, they lack the killer instinct. When they get a team down, they can’t finish the job and allow the opposition back into the game. The Clippers had this same problem, but they were unable to pull back and win the games. That is what separated these teams in March. While they both blew big leads and played inconsistently, the Lakers were able to still pull out the wins. A few weeks ago this was a must win for the Clippers. They were falling out of the playoffs and things were looking down. But with their recent stretch they have started to separate themselves from the rest of the chasing pack. A win here would help them to get the pacific title, but from the way it seems, both the Lakers and Clippers will have home court advantage in, at least, the first round of the playoffs. This is a statement game. Big brother wants to show that he is still in charge of the house. Young brother wants to show that his time has finally come. Both of these teams are finally relevant at the same time. Regardless of who wins tonight, this rivalry is great for Los Angeles.