LA: Woah, we’re halfway there

Clippers: The Clips opened their three-game road trip yesterday with a 135–115 blowout loss to the young, scrappy and hungry New Orleans Pelicans. A sloppy start doomed the Clips, but allowing the Pelicans to shoot a ridiculous 65.4% (!!!) from the field really did not help matters. Saying it wasn’t pretty is an understatement.

• The Clippers will do the Texas two-step next when they square off against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks tonight at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Time to bounce back.

Lakers: The Lakers face off against Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors — who, ahem, the Lakers easily dispatched the last time they met — tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT. But the Purple and Gold aren’t at full strength, missing star Anthony Davis (out for at least two more weeks with leg injuries) and fan favorite Alex Caruso (concussion) among others. Health is wealth.

MBB: On the college front last week, both the USC and UCLA men delivered pretty disappointing Pac-12 Tournament performances. Nevertheless, USC earned the West Region’s 6-seed in yesterday’s selection show. Still dancing!

• UCLA, on the other hand, must face Michigan State in a “First Four” play-in game before they even make it to a first round matchup. Apologies to your nail beds in advance.