Los Angeles Lakers (2-0) beat LA the Clippers (1-1) 125-117 at home on Friday, October 23.
How it unfolded
The Lakers led by 0 at halftime and by 13 through three quarters, finishing with a 8-point win.
What decided it
The Lakers shot 67.1% on an effective basis to 59% for the Clippers and the Lakers gave the ball away on 20.4% of their possessions while the Clippers did so 23.1% of the time. Shot quality is the biggest of the four factors, and it was the clearest gap.
The game played at about 106 possessions per team. The Lakers scored 118.5 points per 100 possessions and the Clippers scored 110.9, a difference of 7.6.
The Clippers' reserves also made a difference, outscoring the opposing bench 46-25.
Who made the difference
Walker Kessler (LAL) posted the best line of the night by Game Score (26.5): 22 pts, 8 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 6 blk on 10-14 shooting. The team was +18 in the minutes Walker played.
For the Clippers, Brook Lopez was the best of the rest at 20.2: 22 pts, 4 reb, 0 ast, 3 blk on 8-9 shooting.
Game Score is a single number that weighs points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, shooting efficiency, fouls and turnovers. It is not an official stat, just a quick way to rank lines.
What it means
The result fit the pre-game Win Meter, which gave the Lakers about a 70% chance.
Across the last 8 meetings in our records, Los Angeles Lakers lead 5-3.
The Lakers are now 2-0, and the Clippers are 1-1. The Lakers last five before this game: L-L-L-L-W.
Written automatically by Tip Off Live software from box score data. Ratings and probabilities are our own model estimates.