Lakers 106 - Clippers 78

The Lakers were playing at Staples tonight but they were the road team and the Clippers were the home team. The Lakers of course felt right at home though as they killed the Clippers 106-78 in front of the Clippers seventh home sell out game of the season. The Lakers are now 1.5 games behind New Orleans and will have a showdown tomorrow evening in New Orleans as Kobe Bryant gets to go head to head with Chris Paul, who some think might deserve the MVP award this season over Kobe Bryant.

If that happened and Kobe does not get the MVP the next couple of years can you imagine him being the best player of the decade but not have a season MVP award - I don't even want to imagine that! I'm sure Kobe will win it this season, many notable figures have said that he is simply the best player in the league, which he is of course. What can I say about Chris Paul? Nothing bad - the guy is young and he is going to be one of the NBA's elite players and if he keeps playing like he is he should get a couple MVP's during his career.

O.K., I'm getting off topic, let's talk about tonight's Laker-Clipper game. Kobe had 61 points, oh - wait a minute - 16 I mean, that's right, Kobe had only 16 points. Luke Walton led the Lakers in the game with 18 points, Lamar Odom had 14, Pau Gasol had 13, Radmanovic had 11 and Farmar had 10. So as one can see, the Lakers got lots of contribution from everyone tonight. The Lakers held the lead for most of the game with the Clippers within striking distance but really broke the game open at the end of the third quarter and in the fourth quarter and had a 94-67 lead with about 6:30 left in the game. Lamar Odom was the only Laker starter to play in the fourth.

The Clippers were with out Cory Maggette and Chris Kaman, two of their main players. Elton Brand who came back recently after missing almost the entire season scored 23 points for the Clippers and may just be playing for the fans. He really can't do much for the Clippers as their season is basically over. I've never been a Clippers fan but Elton Brand is one guy who I have always liked and thought was a great player.

Don't forget the showdown tomorrow against New Orleans!