The Los Angeles Lakers came out of the All-Star break on Friday and took the court at Crypto.com Arena against the Los Angeles Clippers, a team that came in having won 21 of their last 28 games. They were fully healthy, which has seldom been the case this season, and this game gave them an opportunity to start to show how good they can be when they have everyone available.
They were red-hot early and got off to a 41-30 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the Clippers kept chopping away at that lead and made things competitive down the stretch. The Clippers went ahead with 6:54 left in the fourth quarter, and although the Lakers then went on a 10-3 run, the Clippers remained very much in the hunt.
This was a game that was won by star power. As the night wore on, the Clippers lost John Collins and Kawhi Leonard to injuries, and the loss of Leonard was particularly harmful, as he scored 31 points in 31 minutes. Still, they had a chance to force overtime with seconds left when LeBron James threw a bad inbounds pass that was tipped away and recovered by Nicholas Batum.
Batum attempted a 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left that would've tied the game. But it was a brick, James grabbed the rebound and the Lakers escaped with a 125-122 win.
While they allowed the Clippers to shoot 54.9% from the field and outrebound them by 10, they shot 51.8% overall and 54.8% from 3-point range themselves. With a 34-21 record, the Lakers remain in fifth place in the Western Conference and are one game behind the third-place Denver Nuggets.
Marcus Smart: C
Smart didn't attempt a single shot until about midway through the fourth quarter, but after that point, he helped make sure the Lakers came up with a victory. His first shot attempt came with 6:32 to go and was a 3-pointer that put his team ahead 107-106. After Leonard hit a triple of his own, Smart responded with a 20-footer. He then hit another 2-pointer with about a minute left to help secure this win.
He ended up going 3-of-4 from the field and scored seven points, to go along with two rebounds, one steal and one block in 29 minutes.
Deandre Ayton: B-minus
Ayton was quiet in this game, but he still managed to make half of his 10 shot attempts and score 13 points while coming up with seven rebounds, one assist and one block in 28 minutes. He provided one of the game's big highlights when, early in the third quarter, he sprinted downcourt after a defensive rebound by Austin Reaves and threw down an alley-oop dunk on the fast break off a pass from James.
Austin Reaves: A
Reaves returned to the starting lineup in this game and was no longer on a minutes restriction after missing several weeks due to a gastrocnemius strain. He scored the Lakers' first seven points of the night and made each of his first seven shot attempts, and he was very efficient overall.
He went 9-of-15 overall, 4-of-5 from 3-point land and 7-of-7 from the free throw line, giving him 29 points. He also contributed six rebounds, two assists and two steals in 33 minutes. With 1:49 left in the fourth quarter, Reaves had a big defensive play when he drew a charging foul on Bennedict Mathurin, which was Mathurin's sixth and final foul.
Luka Doncic: A-minus
Doncic was hot early, hitting four of his five 3-point attempts and scoring 17 points in the first quarter. He went cold in the second and third quarters, but he recovered enough to score an efficient 12 points in the final period.
He tallied 38 points on 11-of-25 overall shooting while going 8-of-14 from downtown and 8-of-11 from the free throw stripe. He also dropped 11 assists, grabbed six rebounds and came up with three steals and one block. Doncic, who is normally soft-spoken off the court but turns into someone else during games, spent a good amount of time talking trash at Kris Dunn, who was guarding him for sizable stretches.
LeBron James: C-minus
James shot well early, but he went just 1-of-6 in the second quarter, and he never found his shooting touch in this game. He finished with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting, but he did dish off 11 assists and often found open teammates while operating in the post or on the baseline. James also had three rebounds and one assist in 33 minutes.
Jaxson Hayes: B/B-plus
Hayes played just 11 minutes, which was a bit low for him, but he was productive when he was on the floor. He made four of his five shot attempts and scored eight points, to go along with three rebounds and one block.
Rui Hachimura: D
Hachimura barely asserted himself in this game, and when he did, he wasn't effective offensively. He took just four shot attempts in 26 minutes and made only one of them, giving him three points. He chipped in two rebounds, two assists and one steal in his spare time.
Jake LaRavia: D-minus
LaRavia was practically invisible in this game. He attempted one shot, which he made, and ended up with three points, one rebound and one assist in 14 minutes.
Luke Kennard: B
Kennard played 18 minutes and hit four of his six shot tries and one of his three 3-point tries to score nine points. He continued to show his ability to be a connector-type player by attacking closeouts and handling the ball when needed. He chipped in one assist and two rebounds, although he turned the basketball over twice.
Jarred Vanderbilt: D-minus
Vanderbilt played 10 minutes and made one of his two shot attempts, giving him two points, to go along with two assists. However, he had no rebounds, which was a rare occurrence for him.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers player grades: Lakers outlast Clippers thanks to Luka Doncic