Clippers take control in Los Angeles

Even while playing without LeBron James on the tail end of a back-to-back set, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to carve out a double-digit lead in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Clippers.

That’s when the Clippers’ four toughest defenders clamped down and Sweet Lou went wild to win this basketball-loving city’s first rivalry game of the season.

Lou Williams had a season-high 36 points and the Clippers scored 22 consecutive points during the second half of a 118-107 victory over the depleted Lakers on Friday night.

Danilo Gallinari added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers, who held the Lakers without a field goal for more than six minutes while matching the longest unanswered scoring run by any team in the NBA this season.

“We were just a little sluggish,” Williams said. “We were just a step slow. We knew they were on a back-to-back, but for whatever reason, we just weren’t playing our best until we put a good stretch together in the third and then busted the game wide open in the fourth.”