The last time the Lakers faced their Cypto co-tenants, the L.A. Clippers, was back in January when the purple and gold got beaten pretty badly. Despite 46 points and nine made three-pointers from LeBron James, the Lakers lost their 10th straight game to the Clippers and — at that time — it seemed as if all hope was lost for the Lakers’ season. They were hard to watch.
The team was sitting in 13th place in the Western Conference, in the same territory as the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs. And oh, the 18-month-long Russell Westbrook experiment — which the Lakers never really figured out — was still in full swing.