The Los Angeles Lakers played the L.A. Clippers on Wednesday night. It was their last game as the road team inside Crypto.com Arena unless they play each other in the playoffs later this year.

Both teams were missing important players, but the Lakers had to win this game badly to get back on top of the standings. The Lakers came back from being down 21 points to win 116–112.

The Clippers were missing two players, Paul George and Ivica Zubac, but they still got off to a good 10-6 start because the Lakers missed some easy shots.

But because the Clippers aren’t very big, Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura were able to score inside to tie the game at 12. However, Kawhi Leonard got going on the offensive after a break. He made two baskets and was fouled twice. The Clippers had a 30-29 lead at the end of the first quarter after Leonard made a putback before the buzzer.

At the start of the second, James Harden did what he always does: he looked for mistakes. It worked, as the Clippers’ lead grew.

The Lakers have been having a lot of trouble with defensive rebounds lately, and that problem didn’t go away in the second quarter, when the Clippers scored second-chance points to make their lead ten points.

The Lakers, on the other hand, looked like they couldn’t do anything right because they had trouble scoring and Harden had no trouble getting to the basket or the foul line. The Lakers were down 66–52 at halftime because they played so badly in the second quarter.

At the start of the third, Davis’ defence and some quick baskets by Reaves gave the Lakers some life. They went on an 8-0 run. The Clippers scored 10 points in a row right back, though, to take their biggest lead of the night so far, 81–63.

The Clippers kept making easy 3-pointers while the Lakers kept making silly mistakes and having trouble on the defensive glass. The Lakers were down 96–77 at the start of the fourth quarter after Norman Powell made a triple that beat the buzzer. Davis did everything he could to keep his team in the game.

The Lakers came back to life with a run to start the fourth quarter. James made two straight three-pointers to cut the Clippers’ lead to nine points, which led to a timeout. Right after the break, James scored five more points to make the game a five-point tie.

After Davis made some free throws and LeBron hit another three, the Lakers tied the game at 106.

The Lakers took the lead with a triple and then a score by Rui Hachimura as the Clippers kept letting down.

The Lakers were up 12-0 when Harden scored a smart finish, but Russell answered with a triple to keep the pressure on.

Leonard made back-to-back baskets in the last minute to cut the lead to two points and keep the game alive. With 9.3 seconds left, the Clippers had a chance to win after James missed a shot.

James blocked Leonard’s midrange jump shot, though, and the Lakers were able to finish off the comeback win.