Lakers, Clippers To Kick Off Exhibition Season At Staples Center
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The Los Angeles Lakers will face the Los Angeles Clippers Monday in the first NBA preseason game at Staples Center since the end of the lockout that delayed the start of play by more than two months.
The game will mark the debuts of both Mike Brown as the Lakers' coach and the recently acquired perennial all-star Chris Paul as the Clippers' starting point guard.
Brown told reporters after Sunday's practice at the Toyota Sports Center that the game will be "a little bit of a learning experience for me and the team."
"What I like to do during the preseason is I like to try to get better, to try to get better every play," Brown added. "Sometimes, if you see we have a weakness and we're getting our behinds hammered in one area of the game, people may be thinking, `Dang, he can't make adjustments, dang, he can't make adjustments.' Our players might even think that."
"But I might stay with it, just to see if whoever's involved in it is going to have enough toughness to fight their way out of it or say, `I'm fouling out and take me out of the game when I get fouled out,"' Brown said.
The two teams will meet in a second exhibition game at Staples Center Wednesday, before they begin regular-season play Sunday. The Lakers are playing the Chicago Bulls at Staples Center and the Clippers will battle Golden State.
