Five takeaways from the Lakers’ 113-97 loss to the Clippers

Christmas Day seems so long ago. The Lakers stole one in their first meeting with the Clippers, but the rematch went to Staples Center’s other tenant.

Here are five takeaways from the Lakers’ 113-97 loss to the Clippers.

1. There was a bit of a revenge factor for the Clippers after losing to the Lakers the first time. Clippers players talked about it in the days before the game, and they were aided by having back Chris Paul, whom they lacked in their first meeting.

2. Interior defense continues to be a problem for the Lakers. DeAndre Jordan had an incredible day with 24 points and 21 rebounds, making 12 of 13 shots, one game after Pau Gasol went a perfect 9 for 9 for the Spurs. It drives Lakers Coach Luke Walton up the wall when he can’t get his team to foul poor free-throw-shooting bigs. It happened in Miami when Walton wanted his team to foul Hassan Whiteside more. Jordan had nine dunks and Walton said after the game he would have liked to have seen his team wrap him up in some fouls that prevented some of those dunks.

3. On a similar note, the Lakers were outscored by 20 points, 56-36, in the paint.

4. Starts are a problem once again for the Lakers. They scored only 15 points in the first quarter and committed 12 turnovers in the first half.

5. Both Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell said their in-game injuries were not a big deal. Russell fell and writhed around a bit before walking off the court after he bumped his right knee into the leg of a Clippers player. Asked if the initial contact scared him, Russell said no. Randle seemed to turn an ankle during the game, and hopped a bit to work it out. He downplayed the injury after the game, during which he played 27 minutes 30 seconds.

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Twitter: @taniaganguli