Grades for LeBron James, Anthony Davis in Lakers loss to Clippers

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

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

In many cases, the latter point can best be seen in their 3-point shooting. On Sunday, they connected on 11 3-pointers themselves 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 had three head coaches since Lue took over for the Clippers.

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

So let’s dive into the loss. As always, ratings are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance of 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 rather banal first half into a solid outing. That’s not 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 for a string of good outings going 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. When the Lakers came back, LeBron started to smoke shots at the rim.

On the one hand, it’s brutal. On the other hand, maybe the Lakers shouldn’t put themselves in a spot where they have to be perfect to get back into a game.

Overall, it was a bit of an ugly game 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 as bad as AD’s got this season.

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

And then defensively he was just manipulated by Ivica Zubac. If you want to argue 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 struggled, highlighted by fouling James Harden on a 3-pointer. His offensive numbers were also boosted by a late basket as he was largely 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 work out what it meant that he had in the second half. The Clippers took him completely 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 Max didn’t because of his defense, but he wasn’t all that great on that side either. Sunday was also the fourth time in seven games he had one 3-pointer or fewer, which is tough.

Grade: C

Jackson 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 that Hayes doesn’t do any of the things you want a center to do along with 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 need to upgrade at this position, even with how well Vincent has played lately, 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

Not sure what to make of this one from Redick. The Lakers lacked open shots and let everyone drive past 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 an incomplete list.

Grade: B-

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

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

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.