The Los Angeles Lakers beat the LA Clippers 103-87 on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at Intuit Dome without Luka Dončić or Ziaire Williams. With Dončić unavailable for the second leg of the back-to-back, Quentin Grimes got the starting nod for the first time this season and led the team in scoring. Los Angeles is now 4-1.
Dončić was ruled out with back tightness and Williams with left foot soreness on the official injury report, which also listed rookie Cameron Carr out with a right oblique strain and Adou Thiero out for left knee injury management. The report gave an estimated return of Friday, Oct. 30, for all four. Dončić entered Wednesday leading the NBA with 36.0 points per game, two nights after his 52-point night against the Utah Jazz.
Head coach JJ Redick started Austin Reaves, Grimes, Matisse Thybulle, Jake LaRavia and Walker Kessler. Grimes got the start over Collin Sexton, and LaRavia took the forward spot. Grimes finished with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including 0-of-3 from 3-point range and 9-of-11 from the line, with five assists, four steals and three rebounds in 38 minutes. He had entered the night as the rotation’s most-used player never to start a game.
Sexton provided 21 points in 21 minutes off the bench, a season high, on 6-of-11 shooting with four 3-pointers. Reaves added 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting with eight turnovers, and Thybulle scored 15 on 5-of-6. Sandro Mamukelashvili had 13 points and eight rebounds, and Kessler finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Six Lakers reached double figures. The Lakers pulled down 48 rebounds and led 56-38 at halftime after a 16-0 second-quarter run. The Clippers were without five players: Rui Hachimura (quadriceps), Bradley Beal (knee), Max Strus (foot), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (foot) and Brandon Ingram (Achilles).
Redick Split His Scoring and Defense, and It Held Up
Choosing Grimes over Sexton put a defender in Dončić’s spot and kept Sexton’s scoring with the second unit. The box score suggests that split worked. The Lakers made only nine 3-pointers all night, so the margin came from the defensive end and from getting to the free-throw line.
Grimes is the clearest example. He went 0-for-3 from deep, so all 23 of his points came on two-point baskets and free throws, and his 11 free-throw attempts against 15 field-goal attempts show steady pressure on the rim. Jarred Vanderbilt, playing his first minutes of the season, grabbed seven rebounds in 21 minutes without scoring.
Even so, the Clippers were missing five players and the Lakers were on the second night of a back-to-back. The win shows this roster can defend and attack the basket without Dončić for a night. It does not settle what happens over a longer stretch.
The Lakers Visit Golden State on Oct. 30
The Lakers play the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on Friday, Oct. 30. The injury report’s estimated return date for Dončić, Williams, Carr and Thiero is that game, though the team has not confirmed any of the four.
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