New uniform, same nemesis for the Clippers.

The battle of Los Angeles renewed on Friday night, and it was the first time that new Lakers star Luka Doncic got to be apart of the Hollywood rivalry. After a slow start in the first half, Doncic went off after halftime and finished the game with 31 points to lead the Lakers to a 106-102 win.

Doncic has built a reputation as a Clippers killer during his career with monster performances win both the regular season and the playoffs. Of course, his game-winning buzzer beater in Game 4 of their 2020 playoff series sticks out as a huge moment for Doncic against the Clippers, but he has had plenty of other big games against them.

After the latest Doncic masterpiece to beat the Clippers, Kendrick Perkins took to social media to make sure everybody knows who is the boss between the two.

“Luka still own the Clippers,” Perkins wrote on X.

Doncic came alive in the fourth quarter, draining two setback 3-pointers over Ivica Zubac to put the Lakers out in front and making a number of other big plays to help the Lakers get the win. His running mate, LeBron James, also had a big night with 28 points and 13 rebounds in the win.

The Lakers are one of the hottest teams in the NBA lately and they kept that going with this win. This was the fifth win in a row for Doncic and company, who have won eight of their last 10 games to vault up into fourth place in the Western Conference.

If the Lakers can continue to play this way and rack up wins, they will have a great chance to climb as high as the No. 2 seed in the West by the time the playoffs roll around. There is currently a one-game gap between them and the Denver Nuggets for that second spot, so the Lakers are right there with 24 games to go.

Getting that No. 2 seed would be huge for the Lakers because it would guarantee them home-court advantage in the first two rounds and ensure that they would not take on the Oklahoma City Thunder until the Western Conference Finals. If Luka Doncic and LeBron James can get hot enough to get to the final four, there’s no telling what they can accomplish.