The Los Angeles Clippers had a golden opportunity to pile on the Los Angeles Lakers' misery on Sunday night, but instead, they played one of their poorest games as a healthy unit in recent memory. In the end, it was LeBron James and the Lakers that pulled out the 106-103 victory, giving the Purple and Gold the first two wins of the season series.

Paul George knows how much of a missed opportunity it was for the Clippers to gain even more separation on the rest of the Pacific Division. They were up on the Lakers by as many as nine points in the first quarter, and they even made a run to give themselves a bit of a lead in the third quarter when the opposition was making a run.

Alas, the Lakers took a 10-point lead during the fourth quarter, and even though the Clippers tied the game at 98 with less than two minutes remaining in the contest, George, James Harden, and the rest of the team went cold on opportunities to take the lead, which cemented their defeat.

“We had a chance to win this. We know this game is on us. Give the Lakers a ton of credit. They’ve been struggling and found a way to get a win. But absolutely. This game was very winnable. We know this game doesn't show who we are in any way. But we know who we are, this was just a rough one for us,” George said in his postgame presser, via Tomer Azarly, Clippers beat reporter for ClutchPoints.

Taking the lead in the dying embers of the game became a chore the Clippers simply couldn't bring themselves to do. Kawhi Leonard, before exiting crunch-time due to a minutes restriction, missed a few looks from midrange. Paul George then bricked a few stepbacks and he missed a bunny at the rim, while James Harden was a little late in asserting himself as a scoring threat.

This loss, however, as George said, does not take away from what the Clippers have accomplished over the past two months and how rapidly they've progressed during that span. They'll be eager to show what their colors truly are when they take on the Phoenix Suns on the second night of a back-to-back later tonight.