INGLEWOOD — Round 2 of the Battle of Los Angeles arrives fast, and it arrives with a grudge on both sides. The Lakers (3-1) visit the Clippers (1-2) tonight at Intuit Dome, less than 24 hours after suffering their first loss of the season, while the Clippers get their first home shot at revenge since Friday’s 125-117 defeat at Crypto.com Arena.
Los Angeles ran into a Portland team that could match its firepower on Tuesday night, falling 136-129 at home. Luka Doncic scored 41 points on 12-of-22 shooting, two nights after dropping 52 at Utah, but the Lakers never found the stops to go with the scoring: Portland shot 59 percent from the floor, 50 percent from three-point range (18 of 36), and piled up 56 points in the paint. Austin Reaves added 26 points and seven assists, and Sandro Mamukelashvili chipped in 17 off the bench.
The loss ended a 3-0 start to the post-LeBron era — James bid farewell in July by signing with the Philadelphia 76ers — and it exposed the same flaw twice: a new, physical defense that has not yet held up against elite shot-making. ‘We didn’t do basic coverages like we were supposed to,’ Reaves said after the Portland game. ‘It was everybody, it wasn’t just one person.’ Coach JJ Redick called nights like this ‘good learning lessons that we can apply both as coaches and players.’
Tonight is the Lakers’ first back-to-back of the season, the first of 14, and the second meeting with the Clippers in six days. In Friday’s first clash, Los Angeles took charge with a 14-1 run late in the third quarter; Reaves led the way with 28 points and Doncic had 23. The Clippers attacked the paint for 48 points and grabbed 15 second-chance points on 11 offensive rebounds in that game, and they figure to go back to the boards against a Lakers team that has been a below-average rebounding side so far.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT at Intuit Dome, televised on Spectrum Sportsnet. The question for the Lakers is simple: do they bounce back motivated, or arrive fatigued on the second night of a back-to-back? Doncic promised before the season that the team was ‘going to give you everything we have, every single night. No excuses. No nights off.’ Tonight is the first test of that promise.
Photo: Edwin So / The Sporting Tribune
Photo: Edwin So / The Sporting Tribune
Photo: Edwin So / The Sporting Tribune
Source: Reuters, October 28, 2026; NY Post, October 28, 2026; Silver Screen and Roll, October 28, 2026; The Sporting Tribune, October 28, 2026
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