Clippings: The Battle of L.A. moves to 2-1

The Clippers don’t like day games. Doc Rivers really doesn’t like them. And the team won’t be particularly fond of them after losing Sunday’s afternoon tip in a game when the Lakers simply had more energy than the home team.

Before the game, when asked why the Clippers have struggled in these early contests, Rivers said, “The cause is 12:30. Not much you can do about it. And we play a lot of them, being the third tenant in the building. It’s nice that we got the Lakers to join us for a 12:30 game. That’s impressive. We were hoping, on some of these 12:30 games that the Friday nights in L.A. would get the other teams. And that hasn’t happened.”

The Clippers are 4-3 thus far in 12:30 PT tip-offs, including close calls against the Knicks and undermanned Sixers, and shocking losses to the Grizzlies and Kings. Entering Sunday’s matchup, the Clippers’ net rating of plus-6.47 dropped to minus-1.79 in day games, per Pivot Analysis. They have one more early game left this season on April 4 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Postgame, after the players admitted to not having the same “juice” as the Lakers, Rivers joked about the solution to his team’s problems, “You know, I called my owner and I told him, ‘You know what you should do? You should build an arena.’ And you know what he’s doing, he’s building an arena.”

Not only is Steve Ballmer in the process of building an arena, he also just bought an old basketball arena last week. If all goes according to plan, afternoon Clipper games could become a thing of the past.

Until then, the Clippers will continue to work through their day games woes, which could be particularly important come playoff time. The weekend 12:30 p.m. time slot is a fixture for West coast teams during the postseason. If the Clippers and Lakers run into each other again when the sun is up on Saturday or Sunday, it won’t be because the Clippers are the “third tenant” in Staples Center, and they’ll have to be better than they’ve been so far.

As for this latest Clippers-Lakers showdown...

• The Clippers didn’t seem terribly concerned about losing their first game to the Lakers, given that they still own a 2-1 advantage in the season series.
• Pat Beverley was especially confident despite the loss, and his belief in his own defense — even against LeBron James — was at an all-time high.
• Former Clipper Avery Bradley had himself quite the revenge game against the team he spent an injury-riddled year with, and against the coach he played three seasons for in Boston.
• With so much depth on the Clippers roster, it can be challenging for role players to find their way.
• That depth is only increasing with the reported addition of Joakim Noah, who was in attendance at Sunday’s game as a fan. Here’s what he can bring to LA.