LOS ANGELES — For the past month, as the Los Angeles Clippers’ comebacks became customary, they became experts of the chase.
Rallies from down 24, 25 and 35 points had given them a keen eye to sense exactly when opponents’ body language would shift from confident to cratering, their lead slipping away as the Clippers’ opportunity opened.
Thursday proved a role reversal, the Clippers shorting their fourth-quarter jump shots as their opponent gained speed, a stunning collapse after leading by as many as 17 points in the third quarter seemingly underway after the Lakers took the lead with 28 seconds to play and again with 12 seconds left, the latter on an alley-oop lob to Anthony Davis.
But under very different circumstances than January, the Clippers’ resilience remained and in the process they denied the Lakers the very kind of momentum-boosting rally they collected throughout the last month.
Guard Reggie Jackson’s leaning layup with four seconds to play pushed the Clippers ahead by the winning margin, 111-110, and Davis’ shot from five feet rolled around the rim before rolling out as time expired.
The chaotic sequence capped a fourth quarter in which the Lakers outscored the Clippers by 11, and a game in which the Lakers held sizable edges in second-chance points (plus-17) and free-throw attempts (14 more) only to lose by the smallest margin.
Jackson finished with 25 points while Marcus Morris Sr. had 29 points, including a three-pointer with 18 seconds left despite Lakers forward Trevor Ariza draped all over him to push the Clippers ahead 109-108.
Serge Ibaka also added 20 points, starting in place of the injured center Ivica Zubac. It was enough, barely, to hold off a Lakers team that looked utterly rudderless late in the third quarter without LeBron James while playing on the second night of back-to-back games.
Davis scored 30 points and Monk added 21 while Westbrook’s hard-charging second half gave him 17 points.
The Lakers (25-28) fell to 2-5 when playing on consecutive nights.
