Austin Reaves scored seven of his fifteen points in overtime, and LeBron James finished with 35 points and 11 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 130-125 on Thursday AEDT to end an 11-game losing skid.

For the first time since July 2020 in the Florida bubble, the shorthanded Lakers defeated their local rivals behind the scoring of D’Angelo Russell (27 points) and Anthony Davis (27 points and 10 rebounds). Since Christmas 2016, the Lakers, who are the 17-time NBA champions, have lost 11 straight games at their shared arena against the Clippers.

In the Clippers’ second loss of the early season, Kawhi Leonard scored 38 points while James Harden, dressed in street clothes, watched from the team’s bench. Before fouling out 30 seconds into overtime, Paul George scored 20 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, including 8 in the last minute.

James, who is currently the oldest player in the NBA, is in his 21st season of play. He has all the tricks in the book, which he used brilliantly against the Clippers.

LeBron James lagged behind the play to adjust his sneakers before finishing the possession with a thunderous dunk (NBA)

At one stage, the 38-year-old lagged behind the play after losing a sneaker, before ending the possession with an emphatic dunk after the Clippers defenders forgot to guard him.

“This is a good trick here. Take your shoe off, nobody guards you, sprint the floor and a right-handed jam,” said former Warriors GM Bob Myers on commentary for ESPN.

Although the Lakers used just eight players due to five significant injury absences, they rallied from an early 19-point deficit before blowing an eight-point lead in the final 90 seconds of regulation.

George, who had six three-pointers, hit three free throws with 17 seconds left to tie it. Russell had an open shot at the buzzer, but missed.

The Lakers took a five-point lead in overtime when Reaves stole the ball from Leonard, drove the court and flung an alley-oop to James for a one-handed slam with 2:12 left.

James was unstoppable as the Lakers ended a 11-game losing streak against their cross-town rivals (AP)

Leonard answered with a three-point play and his fifth three-pointer, but Reaves hit two free throws with 48 seconds left and Russell Westbrook missed a tying three-point attempt before Christian Wood threw down a vicious putback dunk for the Lakers with nine seconds to play.

Westbrook scored 24 points against his former team.

P.J. Tucker played 21 scoreless minutes in his debut with the Clippers, who officially acquired he and Harden earlier in the day in a multi-player trade with Philadelphia.

Harden will ramp up to playing shape during the next four days before the Clippers’ next game, but the team is already confident about the 2018 MVP and Los Angeles native’s ability to mesh with its three incumbent Southern California-born superstars.

“It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice, whether it’s shots, whether it’s minutes,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “They’re willing to do that.”

The Lakers’ bench was already thin with the injury absences of Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent and rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino even before starting forward Taurean Prince developed knee soreness in warm-ups. Hachimura entered the NBA’s concussion protocol after missing Monday’s game with an eye injury.

Leonard scored a career-high 18 points in the first quarter, hitting seven of his eight shots with four three-pointers. The Lakers chipped away for the next two quarters and finally reclaimed the lead late in the third.

George picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, but still turned in a spectacular stretch effort.