5 things: Despite late slipup, Clippers rout Lakers on Christmas

Finding their groove on D

The Clippers got off to fast start with their clairvoyant defense, picking off four Lakers' passes in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the game. It was as if they knew the Lakers' plays before the Lakers did, which is possible given the fact that Chris Paul and Wesley Johnson both played for Byron Scott.

This was one of the team's best defensive performances this season until the final frame. They limited the Lakers to 41.6 percent shooting and 22 points in the paint, and mostly contained any Laker not named D'Angelo Russell.

CP3 setting the tone early on

When Chris Paul is aggressive early, good things tend to happen for the Clippers.

As J.J. Redick alluded to post-game, the Clippers' offense opens up when teams are forced to play up on pick-and-rolls that Paul is involved in. With the extra attention on him, Paul can pick apart defenses -- especially ones as porous as the Lakers' -- effortlessly. A DeAndre Jordan alley-oop. A Blake Griffin jumper at the top of the key. A Redick 3-pointer in the corner. It all stems from Paul drawing the defense in, bending it one way and then breaking it with bullet passes. Paul finished with 23 points (11-of-19 shooting) and 6 assists.

Second unit drops the ball

With the game decided heading into the fourth, all the Clips' bench unit -- Cole Aldrich, Paul Pierce, Lance Stephenson, Jamal Crawford and Pablo Prigioni -- had to do was maintain the 28-point lead, or at least keep it around 20 points. But the Lakers' bench -- led by Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell -- started the fourth on a 17-2 run, narrowing the Clips' lead to 13 and forcing Doc Rivers to bring Paul, Griffin, Jordan and Wesley Johnson in with just over seven minutes remaining. The Lakers continued to rally, cutting the deficit to just seven points, before a Blake Griffin kick-out pass to Wesley Johnson for a 3-pointer sealed the lead with just over three minutes remaining.

Christmas jerseys steal the show

One of the bright spots of the night was the Clippers' crisp red-and-cream Christmas jerseys. The team's redesign this summer was polarizing, with some fans liking the new logo and jerseys, and others preferring the old design and duds. But everyone on Twitter and at Staples Center seemed to agree that the Christmas jerseys would make for a great regular-season look, even if that's just a pipe dream. The font had the perfect level of subtlety, funk and modernness. On a larger scale, the Christmas jerseys this year were much better than Christmas and All-Star jersey designs in recent years, which is nice to see.

Showing up on national TV

Heading into tonight's contest, the Clippers were 2-8 in nationally televised games. Their two wins were against weaker opponents, the Mavericks and Kings, while they accumulated a slew of losses to elite teams in both conferences. While the Lakers certainly aren't an elite team, a blowout win -- say 30 points or so -- was exactly what the Clippers needed. And it's almost what they got, if not for the bench's lackluster play. Overall, the Clippers are still just 5-10 against teams above .500, though, so this has been an ongoing issue regardless of whether the game is televised or not. This trend has to reverse before the Clips can be taken seriously.

The Clippers now head to EnergySolutions Arena to face the Utah Jazz, which starts a four-game road trip away from Staples Center (since tonight was technically a road game).

Follow Jovan on Twitter at @jovanbuha.