Lakers avenge earlier loss to Clippers, and we now have a rivalry

Circle your calendars: April 4.

We can definitely call it a rivalry now, this thing the Clippers and Lakers have going between them.

That might have been the Game of the Season last night on the one month anniversary of the start of the NBA season, a chippy, physical, psychodramatic 96-91 victory by the Lakers over their co-tenants at the Staples Center. No blood was spilled, but there was pushing, shoving, wrestling, cursing, six technical fouls, a flagrant, an ejection … and a pat on the head from Pau Gasol to Chris Paul that went over like a lead balloon.

“He touched the top of my head, and I didn’t like that,” said Paul, who nearly landed with the Lakers last month before NBA commissioner David Stern squelched the deal. “You know what I mean. I don’t know if Pau’s got kids, but don’t touch my head like I’m one of your kids. I don’t know what his intentions were, like, ‘I’ll treat him like little Chris.’ I don’t know if he’s got kids, but I’m not one of them.”

The game also featured a rare strong performance from Metta World Anarchy – that’s what I called him this morning on the Armando and Perk show on 640-AMSports in Miami. Click here to listen to the interview.

The teams have now met four times since the lockout ended, twice in the preseason and twice in the regular season. The Clippers won the first three, and they led this one for most of the first 3 1/2 quarters, but Kobe Bryant scored 12 of his 24 points in the final frame and Gasol finally started taking shots from inside the paint, finishing with 23.

“Everybody played with the right attitude, and guys did what they do best,” Bryant said. “They had the right temperament. Everybody did what we do best.”

Bryant put the Lakers in front with six points during an 11-4 run capped by Metta World Anarchy’s 3-pointer with 3:30 to play. In the final minute, Andrew Bynum (19 points) made a layup and blocked two shots by DeAndre Jordan.

The best account of the game comes from J.A. Adande of ESPN.com: “The Lakers don’t have a championship to defend for the first time since 2008. The Lakers don’t have speed, they don’t have players who can create their own shots (that wasn’t a criticism, that was their coach’s own assessment). Over their previous three games they didn’t even have a victory. What they do have, buried somewhere inside those golden jerseys, is pride. That it took the Clippers to bring it out of the Lakers says something about the Clippers’ nascent threat to their Southern California hoops supremacy. But ultimately it was the Lakers who prevailed 96-91 Wednesday night when the in-building battle got physical, when execution down the stretch became critical, when desire became paramount. Perhaps it should not have taken this long to reappear. It shouldn’t have required the potential of a fourth consecutive loss to bring it out. They shouldn’t have needed a welcomed extended practice session on Tuesday to figure out who they were again. But if the Lakers are to become what they want to be, they had to rediscover what they had been. There was something present that wasn’t there over the past week, which featured a 73-point outing against the Dallas Mavericks, back-to-back losses by a combined 25 points in Miami and Orlando, and a blown 13-point lead in a loss against the Indiana Pacers that left Gasol grumbling about his role in the offense. Wednesday night, Metta World Peace played with the rough-and-reckless abandon of Ron Artest. The officials allowed him to be physical and it seemed to buoy the rest of his game, turning him into a rebounder, a playmaker, a shot-blocker and finally a 3-point-shot-maker (after Bryant out-battled Caron Butler for a rebound).Gasol insisted on getting the shots he wanted, refusing to allow even the aggressive defense of Clippers reserve forward Reggie Evans to deter him. Kobe Bryant wound up outscoring Gasol 24-23 but it still felt like Gasol’s night.”

Again, circle your calendars for April 4.

One of these teams is going to be trying to win the season series, one or both of them may be fighting for a playoff race in the loaded Western Conference, and it may end up bumping last night’s epic out of the top spot for most intense game of the season.

Wednesday was the last day for teams to give contract extensions to members of the draft class of 2008, and there were some surprises in the deals that did get done and those that did not. Click here for Chris Bernucca’s excellent rundown and analysis.

It was an intense night by any measure with 13 games on the slate, so let’s have a looksee at what else went down:

• The seven-game winning streak the Houston Rockets brought into their home game against the Milwaukee Bucks? Gone. The Rockets led by nine points at halftime, then let the Bucks shoot 57 percent (12 of 21) in the third quarter of a 105-99 loss. Andrew  Bogut, who missed a game earlier this month with concussion-like symptoms after a four-game absence to attend to personal business back home in Australia, sprained his ankle in the second quarter and did not return. “Someone has a voodoo doll and is putting pins in me,” he said.
• The epic comeback of the night belonged to the Toronto Raptors, who fell behind by 18 in the first quarter but battled back to defeat the Utah Jazz  111-106 in double-overtime. Linas Kleiza scored a season-high 25 points, including four of the Raptors’ 10 3-pointers, Jose Calderon hit a 3-pointer to tie it at the end of regulation, and Andrea Bargnani had 25 points but reinjured his strained left calf.”This  time it’s bad,” said Bargnani, who planned to undergo an MRI. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to be out for a while.”
• The Pacers’ test week continued, and they had an ‘A’ game in defeating the Bulls 95-90 to hand Chicago its first home loss of the season after eight consecutive wins. Danny Granger scored 22 points and Roy Hibbert had 20, including a key dunk with 13 seconds left. The Pacers rallied from 10 points back at halftime and limited Chicago to 36 second-half points. Derrick Rose had just two points in the fourth quarter.
• Cool as a cucumber, LeBron James made six free throws in a row in the final 1:19, lifting the Heat to a 101-98 victory over the Detroit Pistons. James finished with 32 points, and Miami recovered after blowing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
• Kevin Love had 31 points and 10 rebounds after signing his maximum four-year contract extension, who ruined ring night in Dallas by handily defeating the Mavericks 105-90. It marked the end of the Mavericks’ seven-game home winning streak and their franchise-record streak of holding 15 consecutive opponents under 100 points.
• Deron Williams scored 34 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 26.8 seconds left in overtime, as New Jersey stunned the Sixers in Philadelphia, 97-90 in overtime. “Our new team motto is, ‘I love it,'” Williams said. “It started off sarcastic, but now we use it for everything. I had five turnovers, but I love it.” In the locker room afterward, several of Williams’ teammates chanted “I love it.”
• Randy Wittman made his Washington coaching debut without the benefit of any sleep Tuesday night, and he might still be awake from the adrenalin rush. The Wizards opened an early 20-point lead and won for just the third time this season, defeating Charlotte 92-75.  “All these guys get a clean slate with me,” Wittman said.
• The Mike D’Antoni job watch is back on (Phil Jackson, anybody?) after a 91-81 loss at Cleveland. The Knicks have lost seven of eight. New York had six turnovers and just 17 points in the fourth quarter, and Carmelo Anthony aggravated a thumb injury. Next up for the NBA’s most overhyped, disappointing team is a nationally televised matchup with the Heat on Thursday night in Miami.
• After signing a four-year, $42 million contract extension, Danilo Gallinari scored 21 of his 23 points in the first half as the Denver Nuggets routed Sacramento 122-93 for their fifth straight victory and fifth in a row on the road. At 13-5, they have the second-best record in the Western Conference.
• DeJuan Blair and Matt Bonner each scored 17 points, Tiago Splitter had 16, and the Spurs handed the Atlanta Hawks their first lopsided loss of the season. San Antonio had lost two of its previous three — including one to Sacramento at home — and barely squeaked past New Orleans on Monday.
• Kevin Durant scored 25 points to lead the Thunder to their 10th win in 11 games, 101-91 over New Orleans. Oklahoma City (8-1 at home) now has a three-game trip against the Warriors, Clippers and Mavericks. The Hornets have lost nine in a row.
• Stephen Curry scored a season-high 32 points and added seven assists and six rebounds, and David Lee had 26 points in a 101-93 victory over Portland. Golden State snapped a three-game losing streak and beat a Western Conference opponent for the first time this season after an 0-6 start.
  .