Grades for LeBron James, Anthony Davis in Lakers loss vs. Clippers

So much of the meetings between the Lakers and Clippers in the LeBron James-Ty Lue era play out the same way.

I touched on this in the takeaways from my recap on this contest, but I wanted to expound upon it a bit. So often, the Clippers play out the game with more focus, more energy, more intensity and they execute at a higher level.

In lots of cases, that last point can be best seen in their 3-point shooting. On Sunday, they connected on 11 3-pointers even despite missing a number of open looks.

But the biggest difference between the sides comes down to identity. The Clippers have one, the Lakers don’t. That’s the byproduct of the Lakers having three head coaches since Lue took over for the Clippers.

Perhaps Redick can be that guy for the Lakers, but the gulf between the two teams was evident on Sunday.

So, let’s dive into the loss. As always, grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.

Rui Hachimura

33 minutes, 19 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 9-14 FG, 1-3 3PT, 0-1 FT, -13

A strong second half from Rui helped turn a fairly mundane first half into a solid outing. That isn’t to take anything away from him as he was important in the fake comeback in the second half.

The hope now is that this is the spark to a string of good outings moving forward.

Grade: A-

LeBron James

35 minutes, 25 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 9-20 FG, 2-6 3PT, 5-6 FT, -3

The lasting image of this one for LeBron will be the missed layups in the second half. As the Lakers were coming back, LeBron started smoking shots at the rim.

On one hand, that’s brutal. On the other hand, perhaps the Lakers shouldn’t put themselves in a place where they need to be perfect to get back into a game.

It was a bit of a nasty game overall for LeBron and the shooting numbers show that. Still, he felt like one of the few positives from the night overall.

Grade: B+

Anthony Davis

37 minutes, 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 5-14 FG, 0-1 3PT, 6-6 FT, -18

Well that was just about as bad as AD’s looked this season.

Offensively, he was settling for jumpers and not even open ones. Eight of his 14 shots were at the free throw line or outside the paint. Ew.

And then defensively, he was just manhandled by Ivica Zubac. If you want to make an argument that the Lakers should trade for a center, just play this game tape.

Grade: D

Max Christie

23 minutes, 10 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 4-7 FG, 2-4 3PT, -23

A pretty rough night from Christie, who played his fewest minutes in a game since before Christmas. Defensively, he was struggling, highlighted by fouling James Harden on a 3-pointer. His offensive numbers were bolstered by a late basket, too, as he was pretty much a non-factor on that end.

Grade: C-

Austin Reaves

34 minutes, 14 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 4-6 FG, 2-4 3PT, 4-4 FT, -16

The night started strong for Reaves, who was 4-6 from the field for 12 points with two rebounds and two assists in the first half.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do the math on what that meant he had in the second half. The Clippers completely took him out of the game and made him a non-factor.

Grade: C-

Dorian Finney-Smith

22 minutes, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 steal, 0-3 FG, 0-3 3PT, -6

DFS got some of the minutes that Max didn’t because of his defense, but he still wasn’t all that great on that side either. Sunday was also the fourth time in seven games he’s had one 3-pointer or fewer, which is tough.

Grade: C

Jaxson Hayes

13 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2-2 FG, +4

Redick tried the Hayes-Davis frontcourt a bit in this one. But the problem is, Hayes doesn’t do any of the things you want a center to do alongside AD. Two rebounds is absurd.

Grade: D-

Gabe Vincent

23 minutes, 4 points, 1 assist, 2-5 FT, 0-3 3PT, +0

He wasn’t good defensively. He wasn’t good offensively. The Lakers have to upgrade at this position, even with how well Vincent has played of late, relatively speaking.

Grade: D

Dalton Knecht

16 minutes, 10 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3-4 FG, 2-3 3PT, 2-2 FT, +3

Knecht joined all the other Lakers in getting cooked defensively. But at least he knocked down some jumpers? He had a pretty timely 3-pointer as part of an 11-0 run in the third quarter.

But he probably gave up as many points as he scored.

Grade: C+

Christian Koloko, Bronny James

Only garbage time minutes for these two, so no grade.

JJ Redick

I’m not sure what to make of this one from Redick. The Lakers were missing open shots and letting everyone drive by him. He tried putting different bodies out there defensively and nothing worked.

It wasn’t great, but my anger was with the team on the floor. This is a flawed roster.

Grade: B-

Sunday’s DNPs: Trey Jemison, Shake Milton, Cam Reddish

Sunday’s inactives: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Armel Traore, Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.