LOS ANGELES – Friday night marked the most important game of the LA Clippers‘ season. A win over their division-rival Los Angeles Lakers would clinch the season series. Everyone inside the Crypt was watching nervously as the Lakers' lead was down to one with 1:33 remaining in the fourth quarter. And there Tyronn Lue was, subtly dancing and vibing in the coach's box to a song playing on the speakers with his team down a point to LeBron James‘ club.

Lue was probably the calmest person inside the arena, fully trusting his team to execute down the stretch of yet another one possession game late.

“That’s Ty,” Terance Mann said with a smile after the game. “He doesn’t get too high or too low and it’s great to have a coach like that because it helps you not get too high or too low. You’re out there even-keeled. Turnover? Next play. Big shot. Next play. So when you see a coach out there vibing like that you start vibing.”
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Without Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Norman Powell, the Clippers defeated the Lakers, 105-102, clinching the season series. Seven Clippers scored in double figures, including all four who came off the bench, led by Terance Mann's 19 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and three steals.

It was the third time this season the Clippers had beaten the Lakers with only one matchup remaining in less than a week's time. And the Clippers didn't even start preparing for LeBron James and Russell Westbrook until Friday morning.

Coming out of the All-Star Break, the Clippers held a light Wednesday night practice as well as a Thursday morning practice before the team's morning shoot-around on Friday.

“We didn't even prepare for them, we just basically worked on ourselves,” Tyronn Lue told ClutchPoints when asked about having multiple days to prepare for the Lakers. “Small ball lineup, things we needed to get better at. It's not about the Lakers, it's about us going forward, getting better every game. We had shootaround today where we went over them, but the two days of practice that we had, we really focused on ourselves and trying to get better.”

The Clippers played well for two-and-a-half quarters, but almost let one awful third quarter dictate the rest of the game. They built a 16-point first-half lead in the first half, but saw it slowly dwindle as the game seemingly flew by.

At one point late in the fourth, the Lakers led by as many as six points, but that didn't last for very long. Whether up 16 or down six, Tyronn Lue's demeanor and level-headedness remain the same.

“He never allows us to feel like the game’s over,” Reggie Jackson said of Lue after the game. “Like, there’s always a goal. There’s always a goal, whether it’s preparing—like, we want to win regardless this game, but you can tell even if he's coaching to make us better for the next one. I think him coaching with purpose, him coaching with intent and we know where his heart’s at. We know how much he believes, how cool, calm, and collected he is, it’s hard for us to ever get rattled.

“We’ll have moments where you get frustrated, of course, or him being some react to the game a little bit but for the most part we feel like we’re in the driver’s seat, even down 30 just because, like I said, the guy at the helm. He always reminds us that it’s about us. We are playing against another team, but it’s really we’re competing against ourselves.”

LeBron James didn't play in one of the three games against the Clippers this season. The first matchup saw James play alongside Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook. The second matchup saw no James, but Davis and Westbrook active. This time, James and Westbrook played, but Davis did not.

“It's definitely different, depending on who's playing and who's not playing,” Terance Mann said ahead of Friday's game. “So, it's gonna be a different look, like last time we played them we had to gear up for AD and our game plan vs. him, now this time it's gonna be ‘Bron, and that we didn't get the last time. It's gonna be way different, different game plan that we're gonna go over today, so I'm sure the coaches will have a good one though.”

And oh, did they. LeBron James shot just 6-of-18 from the field with six turnovers. They constantly threw double teams and multiple bodies at LeBron, forcing him to pass the ball or into tough shots.

The hole left inside was briefly patched up by Dwight Howard, who had his best game of the season with 14 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocks, but even he became neutralized by the Clippers' small ball lineups featuring Robert Covington at center.

Tyronn Lue's Clippers now sit 2.5 games ahead of the Lakers in the standings and hold the tiebreaker over them. They'll place one final time on Thursday, March 3rd, in what will be a Clippers home game.