LOS ANGELES — With 2:38 left, Crypto.com Arena stopped cheering and started demanding. “DE-FENSE” rained down from a sellout crowd of 19,057, and JJ Redick was not happy. Honestly, he had a point.
The Lakers led 119-113. Minutes earlier, they had led by 15. In between, the Clippers ripped off eight straight points while Los Angeles went scoreless for nearly three minutes, and a game that looked finished was suddenly breathing again.
Then the Lakers finally got what the building was begging for. Stop. Stop. Stop. The Clippers scored four points the rest of the way, and the Lakers walked off 2-0 with a 125-117 win.
Garland hands them the third
The game turned on one minute of the third quarter, and it wasn’t a dunk or a three.
The Clippers led 31-27 after one and the teams were tied 64-64 at the half. Then Darius Garland, who finished with 26 points, handed the Lakers the game in installments. His nine turnovers were real too, and three of them came in 58 seconds.
At 6:36, Matisse Thybulle stole a Garland pass. At 6:20, Walker Kessler stole another. At 5:38, Austin Reaves took a third. Three Lakers, three steals, and a four-point lead became 84-76.
The Lakers outscored the Clippers 39-26 in the third and never trailed again.
Reaves runs the show
Austin Reaves was the best player on the floor, and the box score agrees. He scored 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting, went 5-of-6 at the line, and handed out nine assists.
Look at who he fed. Three Thybulle threes. Two Kessler alley-oops. A Ziaire Williams three, a Quentin Grimes three, a Sandro Mamukelashvili finish. And when the Clippers cut the lead to six late, Reaves answered with a driving bank shot with 1:29 to go to push it back to ten.
He also turned it over six times, a number that will show up in film study. But on a night with 47 combined turnovers, he was the one who always seemed to have the answer.
Kessler answers the perfect night
Walker Kessler’s 12-for-12 opener, which the team says is second in franchise history behind only Wilt Chamberlain’s 14-for-14 in 1969, ended 21 seconds into Game 2. His first shot, a reverse layup, was swatted by Isaiah Jackson.
He took it personally. Kessler hit 10 of his next 13 and finished with 22 points, eight rebounds (four on the offensive glass) and six blocks, all while turning the Clippers’ paint into a toll road. The Lakers outscored the Clippers 58-48 inside and Kessler was at the center of it all night.
Luka’s eleven
Luka Dončić did not have a clean night. He scored 23 points on 8-of-21 shooting, added seven assists and six rebounds, and turned it over eleven times, four of them in the final five minutes, right as the Clippers were making their run.
But the last big play of the night was his. With 33.5 seconds left and the Lakers up eight, Garland drove for a layup and Dončić sent it back. Game over.
Winning ugly with your star off is a very good sign in a long season. It’s also a reminder that this team has a lot more to clean up than a 2-0 record suggests.
The Clippers did not go away
Beal, Ingram, Miller, Niederhäuser and Strus were all out for the Clippers, and they still pushed the Lakers to the final minute.
Brook Lopez was a one-man bench revival. He scored 22 points on 8-of-9 shooting in under 20 minutes and blocked three shots. Derrick Jones Jr. added 16, Keaton Wagler had 13, and the Clippers’ bench outscored the Lakers’ bench 46-25. They also grabbed 11 offensive rebounds for 15 second-chance points and ran for 22 fast-break points to the Lakers’ 13.
Rui Hachimura spent three and a half seasons with the Lakers and said before the game that playing in this arena is special to him. He started against his old team and finished with 16 points and six rebounds on 5-of-14 shooting.
What Game 2 answered
It is two games, and the Clippers played without Beal, Ingram, Miller, Niederhäuser and Strus. Still, the Lakers took the questions from Game 1 and got another round of real answers. The starting five held again. The paint belonged to Los Angeles, 58-48. The rebounding was mixed, 37-34 overall, but the Clippers pulled down 11 offensive boards. The turnovers went the wrong way, 21 after 18 on opening night, and Dončić had 11 of them.
New era, same Luka at the center of it, even on a night his shot wasn’t falling. The Lakers will try to go 3-0 on Sunday in Utah, but for one more night, Crypto got the defensive stand it asked for.
Final: Los Angeles Lakers 125, LA Clippers 117
Notable Stats of the Game
Austin Reaves (LAL): 28 points, 2 rebounds, 9 assists
Luka Dončić (LAL): 23 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists
Walker Kessler (LAL): 22 points, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks
Darius Garland (LAC): 26 points, 6 assists, 9 turnovers
Brook Lopez (LAC): 22 points, 4 rebounds, 3 blocks
Rui Hachimura (LAC): 16 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist
Upcoming Game for the Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers (2-0) @ Utah Jazz (1-1)
Date: Sunday, October 25, 2026
Location: Delta Center • Salt Lake City, UT
Tip-Off: 2:00 PM PT