Clippers dominate first game of the season with 108-92 win over Lakers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Griffin scored 29 points, DeAndre Jordan added 14 points and 24 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers spoiled Lonzo Ball’s quiet NBA debut with a 108-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
Lou Williams added 12 points in the Clippers’ first game since Chris Paul spurned the perennial playoff team after six years and forced an offseason trade to Houston. The Clippers will have a new look this season, but they were still miles ahead of their Staples Center co-tenants in both teams’ season openers.
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Ball had three points, four assists and nine rebounds in 29 minutes during the first game for the No. 2 overall pick from UCLA.
The Los Angeles-area native is expected to revitalize his hometown team this season, but the rookie started out with all the nerves and mistakes that might be expected from any 19-year-old point guard with the weight of a 16-time NBA champion franchise on his slender shoulders. Along with a handful of good-looking passes and a 3-pointer late in the first half, he went 1 for 6 from the field and committed two turnovers.
Brook Lopez scored 20 points in his debut for the Lakers, and Jordan Clarkson added 18.
Patrick Beverley, acquired in Paul’s trade to the Rockets, had 10 points in his Clippers debut while introducing Ball to high-level NBA defense.
Milos Teodosic, the other starting guard in coach Doc Rivers’ revamped lineup, hit two 3-pointers in the 30-year-old Serbian rookie’s NBA debut.
The Lakers’ opening-night starting lineup never played together during the preseason thanks to injuries, and it didn’t immediately click. The Clippers took the lead for good in the third quarter and steadily surged to a 24-point advantage in the third with Griffin and Jordan dominating inside, albeit without most of the Lob City theatrics added by Paul in recent years.
