Only 2 games on Thursday night NBA but both are going to be very interesting. I'm going to talk about the game between 2 teams from Los Angeles - the Lakers and the Clippers. The Purple and Gold started the season with a blowout loss to defending champs Golden State Warriors. Already in the first game, the Lakers' problems were seen. It needed only 1 game for Lebron James to start to complain about their poor roster as they don't have real threats from beyond the arc and the team shot only 25% from three. Russell Westbrook started the game although there were talks that he could start from the bench. Westbrook blamed the coaching staff that playing from the bench caused him injury in the last preseason game.

Maybe here are many Lakers fans but I don't have a lot of positive things to say about the team. Westbrook was good against the Warriors but don't be surprised if he's bad tonight. James and Anthony Davis are the only 2 real players to rely on but it won't be easy against the Clippers. Technically it is a home game for the Lakers but both teams are using the same arena so there's no advantage.

Big relief for the Clippers fans is returning of Kawhi Leonard. He didn't play at all last season but now he's back and ready to dominate. He's a very effective player on both ends of the floor and he should be the player who guards Lebron James. Paul George is also healthy and he already said that he's the 2nd best player on the team so he acknowledges that Leonard is the leader of the team. The most important thing about the Clippers is depth. This team is stacked and there's no other team in the league with so big depth.

The Clippers have some problems in the center position but Ivica Zubac is a very good player and Robert Covington can serve the backup minutes. At the same time, the team has players like Reggie Jackson, John Wall, Marcus Morris, Norman Powell, Luke Kennard, Nicolas Batum and others. Every one of them can sparkle the offense and give the necessary boost which they have proved last season when Leonard was out. How many Laker players do you know outside the Big 3? Probably Patrick Beverley but that's it.

Many think that the Lakers are THE team in Los Angeles but it hasn't been so in the last few years. The Lakers struggle a lot and the Clippers have won the last 7 (!) matchups between the teams. The last time when Lakers won was in the Bubble 2 years ago. This won't happen tonight as the Clippers are just more talented team and it's not like 5 years ago when James could carry his team alone. He's still great but the team needs extra help which this roster can't give. One more thing - we can't forget the head coach matchup as Ty Lue is one of the best in the whole league while Darvin Ham is having his first season. Lue proved he's capable of big things with limited resources and he should be very happy with Kawhi back in the lineup.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

周四晚上NBA只有两场比赛，但两场都将非常有趣。我要讲的是洛杉矶两支球队之间的比赛——湖人和快船。紫金军团本赛季以惨败输给卫冕冠军金州勇士队开始。在第一场比赛中，湖人的问题就显露出来了。仅仅一场比赛，勒布朗·詹姆斯就开始抱怨他们糟糕的阵容，因为他们在三分线外没有真正的威胁，球队的三分命中率只有25%。拉塞尔·韦少首发上场，尽管有传言说他可以在板凳上首发。韦少责怪教练组在上一场季前赛中坐在替补席上让他受伤。

也许这里有很多湖人的球迷，但是我对这支球队没有太多的正面评价。韦少在对阵勇士的比赛中表现出色，但如果他今晚表现糟糕，请不要感到惊讶。詹姆斯和安东尼·戴维斯是唯一可以依靠的两名真正的球员，但对阵快船并不容易。从技术上讲，这是湖人的主场比赛，但两队都使用同一个球场，所以没有优势。

卡哇伊·莱昂纳德的回归让快船球迷松了一口气。上赛季他根本没打过比赛，但现在他回来了，准备统治一切。他在攻防两端都是一名非常有效的球员，他应该成为防守勒布朗·詹姆斯的球员。保罗·乔治也很健康，他已经说过他是球队第二优秀的球员，所以他承认伦纳德是球队的领袖。快船最重要的是深度。这支球队阵容强大，联盟中没有其他球队有这样的深度。

快船在中锋位置上有一些问题，但伊维卡·祖巴克是一个非常好的球员，罗伯特·科温顿可以充当替补。与此同时，这支球队拥有雷吉·杰克逊、约翰·沃尔、马库斯·莫里斯、诺曼·鲍威尔、卢克·肯纳德、尼古拉斯·巴图姆等球员。他们每个人都能激发进攻，给球队带来必要的推动力，这在上赛季伦纳德缺阵时已经证明了。除了三巨头，你还知道多少湖人球员?可能是帕特里克·贝弗利，但仅此而已。

许多人认为湖人是洛杉矶的一支球队，但在过去的几年里，情况并非如此。湖人很挣扎，而快船赢得了两队之间最近的7场比赛。湖人上一次赢球还是在两年前的泡沫时期。这不会发生在今晚，因为快船是一支更有天赋的球队，不像5年前，詹姆斯可以独自带领他的球队。他仍然是伟大的，但球队需要额外的帮助，这是现有阵容所不能提供的。还有一件事——我们不能忘记主教练的对位，泰·卢是整个联盟最好的教练之一，而达尔文·汉姆是他的第一个赛季。卢证明了他有能力在有限的资源下做大事，他应该很高兴伦纳德回归阵容。