Collin Sexton gave the Lakers exactly the kind of burst they needed Wednesday night, and he did it in the kind of stretch that can tilt a game in a hurry. With Luka Doncic out because of back tightness, Sexton came off the bench and powered Los Angeles to a 103-87 win over the Clippers.
The backup guard finished with a season-high 21 points in 21 minutes, going 6-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from three. He also posted a team-best plus-23. The key sequence came in the third quarter, when Sexton scored the Lakers’ final 11 points of the period, buried back-to-back threes and helped push the lead to 85-66 heading into the fourth.
That late flurry also brought a flash of tension. After one basket, Sexton flexed toward the Clippers bench, then found himself face to face with Brook Lopez after Jarred Vanderbilt, in his first game of the season, gave Lopez a nudge that sent him toward Sexton. Lopez raised an arm to keep space and seemed to say he had been pushed into the spot, and Sexton backed away before things escalated.
Vanderbilt’s night went well beyond that moment. He finished plus-22 in 21 minutes, giving the Lakers another useful piece on a night they needed bodies.
The performance fit the role the Lakers had in mind when they signed Sexton to a two-year, $19.2 million deal in July. A right calf injury kept him out of the opener, and when he debuted on Oct. 23 against the Clippers, his impact showed up more on defense than scoring. He stripped Darius Garland 11 seconds after checking in, finished with three steals in 16 minutes and drew praise for his pressure on the ball.
"He's a pest. He feeds off the energy, he loves doing the little things and plays the game the right way," Austin Reaves said after that game.
Sexton had struggled in Tuesday’s 136-129 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, scoring nine points on 4-of-11 shooting while missing all five of his three-point tries. A night later, on the second end of a back-to-back, he was the reason a short-handed Lakers team beat its crosstown rival by 16.
"When I step in between those lines it's us against them. I'm going to do whatever my team needs. I feel like I turn to a different person," Sexton said after the game.
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