The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA) season opener, with Kawhi Leonard at the forefront.
The Clippers held on to win over the Lakers 112-102 in the NBA season opening game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. This was the official debut game of Kawhi Leonard, who signed with the Clippers after winning the championship with the Toronto Raptors in the previous season.
Leonard received loud boos while he delivered a pre-game speech in front of the Clippers home crowd, which was actually dominated by Lakers fans. In the first few minutes, he missed his first two attempts and turned the ball over twice as the opposing team rallied to a 13-2 lead.
With six-time All-Star Paul George still unavailable to play due to an injury, the Clippers struggled in the first quarter and the Lakers went up by as much as 11 points before Leonard hit seven straight shots to help his team overcome the deficit and lead 62-54 by halftime.
In the third quarter, the Lakers' offense was fueled by an 18-point barrage from Danny Green, tying the game at 85 entering the fourth quarter. Leonard and the Clippers was able to maintain a dominant position and finished the game with a 10-point win.
Leonard's performance was complemented with Lou William's dynamic scoring off the bench, posting 21 points and seven assists while Montrezl Harrell racked up 17 points and seven rebounds. The Clippers defense was overall solid, holding the Lakers to a 43.5% field goal percentage and forcing 15 turnovers.
Meanwhile, the Lakers' superstar duo had a relatively good performance, with Davis tallying 25 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks while James scored 18 points, and gathered nine rebounds and eight assists. However, the due was rendered inefficient by the Clippers defense as Davis hit 8 shots out of 21 attempts while James went 7-of-19.
Davis and James combined for a measly 2 points in the fourth quarter.
