Should the Lakers & Clippers be downplaying their Christmas Day game?

LOS ANGELES – They have never felt fully embraced in this city. They have also struggled finding a consistent identity with and without their star players. Yet, the Clippers (22-10) do not reflect the same excitement with their Christmas Day matchup against their Los Angeles rivals as they have for opening presents.

“Just possibly another win added to our resume,” Clippers star Kawhi Leonard said. “It doesn’t really mean much more.”

The Lakers (24-6) struggled mightily in their season-opening loss to the Clippers. Despite nursing recent injuries, LeBron James (thoracic muscle strain) and Anthony Davis (sore right knee) are expected to play. So what does this game actually mean to them?

“Nothing,” Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma said. “Because it’s December.”

Apologies to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. He might not like reading that the Lakers and Clippers have talked about the NBA’s marquee matchup on Christmas Day with the same enthusiasm as if they received lumps of coal in their stockings. The NBA has already struggled enough already with enticing fans to watch regular-season games on television.

The Lakers and the Clippers are not exactly wrong. As the Lakers learned last year, a positive outcome on Christmas Day does not usually mean anything. Then, the Lakers upset the Golden State Warriors, leading many to believe that they could seriously challenge the NBA’s defending champions in the postseason.

But that game coincided with LeBron James straining his left groin, an injury that sidelined him for 17 consecutive games and derailed the franchise’s identity as a playoff-aspiring team toward one swirling in chaos.

The Lakers and Clippers are not exactly right, though, to dismiss the game’s significance.

The Lakers chafed when they played the Miami Heat in 2010 in what marked the first year LeBron James took his talents to South Beach. The Heat won that game by 16 points six months before appearing in what would be four consecutive NBA Finals. An annoyed Kobe Bryant called out his team’s complacency, an ongoing issue that partly led to the Lakers’ second-round post-season exit to Dallas.

“I don’t think we’re downplaying it, but we’re not going play it to the level you are,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “We want to beat the Lakers, and they want to beat us. There’s nothing wrong with that. But other than that, we’ve just got to show up and play.”

That mindset matters more than what the Lakers and Clippers actually say about the game.

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If the Clippers win, they might boast about winning the first two regular-season matchups against the Lakers. If the Clippers lose, Rivers will surely point out that the team only had its first full practice on Tuesday because of overlapping injuries to Leonard, Paul George and their supporting cast.

If the Lakers win, they might praise the toughness James and Davis showed by playing less than fully healthy. If the Lakers lose, they might point out that James and Davis are not 100 percent.

So pay attention less to the rhetoric and pay more attention to what actually happens in the game.

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Do James and Davis show the improved chemistry they have had since combining for 15-of-40 from the field in their season-opening loss to the Clippers? Do George and Leonard overwhelm the Lakers after George missed the season opener? Can the Lakers halt their three-game losing streak by showing their bench has improved since scoring only 16 points in the season opener? Can the Clippers avoid coughing up double-digit leads as they have in three losses in the past five games?

“It’s a little bit like the playoffs,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “You want to be jacked up. But sometimes the best mental approach to the playoffs is managing your adrenaline and managing the edge. Let’s start with the edge first. Bring the juice first. If we’re overboard with it, we can always pull back. But you don’t want it the other way around.”

Whoever manages that approach the best will win the game. That does not guarantee the winner will host a championship parade through downtown Los Angeles. With the Christmas Day games usually marking the first definitive snapshot of the season, though, it will give clarity on which team has more work ahead to ensure it holds that trophy in June.

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