The slumping Celtics have a revenge game at Indiana. The Knicks are visiting the Thunder in what could be a shootout. And Deron Williams is returning to Salt Lake City.
All good games Saturday night in the NBA. And none nowhere near as good as the heavily hyped first meeting between the Lakers and Clippers.
The locals call this the “Hallway Series” as both teams reside down the corridor from each other in the Staples Center. But this is not a rivalry, unless you believe hammer vs. nail also is a rivalry. Since LA became a two-team city, the Lakers hold a 95-28 advantage.
The Lakers have owned Los Angeles since moving there in 1960, trotting out and endless roster of Hall of Famers and winning 12 championships. History says the Clippers moved to LA in 1984, but they truly didn’t arrive until a month ago.
That’s when the Lakers appeared all set to add Chris Paul to their lineup. But Commissioner David Stern vetoed the trade in the interest of keeping the league-owned Hornets financially viable for a prospective buyer, and the Clippers put together their own package to procure Paul.
The ensuing buzz was about a trillion decibels louder than an old refrigerator. For the first time, the Clippers were the glitzy, sexy basketball team in a glitzy, sexy town. The Lakers? They were sooooo 10 minutes ago.
That’s how it stayed through the first week-plus of the season as the Lakers muddled to a 3-3 start. Then Kobe Bryant decided he had had enough.
Over the last seven games, Bryant has averaged 37.4 points. He has scored at least 40 points in the 
last three contests. And he is doing it with a bad wrist that requires injections before each game.
The Clippers are off to a 5-3 start but have had by far the softest schedule in the league. Every other team has played at least 10 games thus far, and the Clippers didn’t even have a back-to-back until this week, when they lost at Portland on Tuesday and beat Miami on Wednesday.
Two things to watch for: Despite the presence of Blake Griffin, the Clippers somehow are 29th in the NBA in rebounding. That could be an issue against the size and length of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol.
And keep an eye on the backcourt matchups. Paul should have his way with Derek Fisher, but Chauncey Billups cannot stay with Bryant. The team that has the bigger advantage should win.