<font color="RoyalBlue"><font size="3"><div align="center">Los Angeles Clippers (19-22) @ Los Angeles Lakers (22-17) Friday January 26th, 2005 - 10:30PM ET Tipoff</div></font></font> Projected Laker Starters <font color="Indigo">PG - Chucky Atkins SG - Caron Butler SF - Jumaine Jones PF - Lamar Odom C - Chris Mihm</font> Projected Clippers Starters <font color="darkred">PG - Marko Jaric SG - Quentin Ross SF - Bobby Simmons PF - Elton Brand C - Chris Kaman</font> Lakers lead the the season series 2-0 Lakers WON 103-89 @ Los Angeles Lakers WON 89-87 @ Los Angeles Key Stat The Lakers have won 5 straight against the Clippers, and 10 out of the last 11 meetings. Key Match-Up Lamar Odom Vs. Elton Brand Lamar Odom gets his third shot against his former Clipper team. The superstar match-up pits two different styles against one another. Lamar Odom has the edge on the perimeter, while Elton Brand has the edge in the post. It's going to be important for Lamar Odom to put pressure on Brand and wear the big man down when the Lakers are on offense. With Corey Maggette out of the game, the Clippers rely on Brand to provide them with most of their offense. If Odom can get some cheap fouls on Brand early in the game the Lakers can really zero in on Simmons and force the other Clippers to beat them. Laker's Keys to the Game - Play with anger after last night's loss - Force the Clipper guards to beat them - Protect against offensive rebounds Clipper's Keys to the Game - Grab an early lead and get the crowd involved - Play a Zone Defense to protect Brand from Odom's ability to take him off the dribble - Get Kaman involved early to force the Lakers to double team him, which will create easier shots for the other Clippers Prediction This is a tough back to back for the Lakers. Fortunately, they don't have to travel far, playing a road game in their home stadium. The Lakers are coming off a blowout loss, while the Clippers won a huge game against the Mavericks. The Lakers need to have forget about last night's game and play with anger and a chip on their shoulders. They got blasted by the media today, and the Lakers need to take out their frustrations on the other Los Angeles team. The Lakers have had the Clippers number, and they need to put the Clippers on edge and crack their confidence. The Lakers should push the tempo in this game and neutralize the presence of Brand and Kaman. I'm predicting a Laker blow out in this game 108-86. <font color="Indigo">Laker Fan Question of the Night? Will the Lakers shot more free throws or 3-point shots tonight?</font>
Hey Shape nice preview, thanks for making this for me, I have been out all day... I think L.A. should win this game, we lost to Seattle last night, they should look to get some revenge tonight. I want Lamar to have a good game, and he will...I take L.A. by 7. and by L.A. I mean the real L.A. team, the Lakers
Very good start by the Clippers, Quinton Ross has been playing very well lately, and though Simmons got in early foul trouble, Maggette was able to take his place. The comeback of Jaric is going to help a lot, he will be coming off the bench soon, but if the Clips can get good PG play, they can beat a lot of people. EDIT: Kaman and Brand had were a point and a rebound away from double doubles in the first half, and got them in the first 2 minutes of the 3rd. Bobby Simmons also had a great first half starting off 5-5. Go Clips! Post game: Great game, Marko Jaric was a nice spark with 11 assists off the bench in 24 minutes. Maggette got hot scoring 16 points in the 4th, and Ross had another great game, and the 2 fouls he drew on Odom to foul him out were just a beauty. The two big men in the middle dominated again, Kaman had 14 points, a career high 16 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Kaman also made some nice plays that didn't show up on the stat sheet, tipping balls, and going after loose balls. Brand had 28 points and 14 rebounds, he struggled a little from the stripe, but had a very good game. Simmons also did nice going 8-10, and getting 18 points, every played well in this one, Mikki Moore also did a nice job defensively on Odom. Chucky Atkins became afraid to shoot anytime he saw Brand coming.
http://www.nba.com/games/20050126/LALLAC/recap.html <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">L.A. Clippers 105, L.A. Lakers 89 Brand, Clippers Thump Lakers LOS ANGELES, Jan. 26 (Ticker) -- Coming off the bench for the first time this season, Corey Maggette scored 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Los Angeles Clippers posted a 105-89 triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers. Maggette, who did not start due to a sore left foot, was limited to just four points on 1-of-5 shooting through three quarters. But led by the strong interior presence of Elton Brand and Chris Kaman, the Clippers held a 70-59 lead entering the period. </div>
