This L.A. rivalry is now fun

Sixty feet.

In the bowels of this city’s heavenly playground, the distance between the Lakers and Clippers locker rooms approximates the distance between a pitchers’ mound and the plate.

Which, on a rowdy Tuesday night, may have accounted for all those fastballs the two teams threw at each other.

Could you hear it?

Whoosh . Kobe Bryant dipping and darting and spinning like the guy we once knew, scoring 40 points with one turnover, walking off with his first huge grin of the season.

Whoosh . Elton Brand pouncing and pounding like the guy we also once knew, 20 points, 15 rebounds, a scowl that stretched to Santa Monica.

The Lakers and Clippers have played 169 times in 22 years in L.A. before Tuesday night, but rarely has it felt like this, bodies thudding, players howling, passion rising.

And, in the end, the Lakers standing on their upstart roomies’ chests and orating.

A three-word statement.

Not so fast.

Trailing by a point in the final three minutes, the unsettled Clippers stumbled for three consecutive possessions, and the Bryant-hardened Lakers rolled them.

Kwame Brown blocked Corey Maggette’s runner. Brand pushed Smush Parker for an offensive foul. Luke Walton blocked Maggette’s jumper. End of story.

Final score: Lakers 105, Clippers 101.

Final observation: This hallway thingy is now officially fun.

“Yeah, it was fun,” said Bryant long after the crowd had finally quieted. “When the whole city kind of gets involved in the atmosphere, it can’t help but be fun.”

It was the hallway rivals’ first meeting at Staples Center since the Clippers cleaned up their side of the building.

It was their first meeting since the Clippers finished ahead of the Lakers in the standings and advanced farther in the playoffs.

It was one of the first times this game actually felt like, well, a game.

“One of those games where both teams were really going at it, like every possession counted,” said Shaun Livingston, who also showed up for the first time this season with seven of the Clippers’ first nine points in the fourth quarter. “It was one of those games that elite teams have to win.”

The Clippers are one of those elite teams. But, when stared down by their more established neighbors, they forgot that fact.

The Lakers also, surprisingly, played like one of those elite teams. And with Bryant on their team, they never forget.

While the Clippers were collapsing at the end, Bryant was hitting a twisting layup and a soft jumper and two free throws and nobody was even looking at his right knee.

“You have to learn how to do that,” Bryant said of closing games. “That’s why I was so proud of us tonight. They made their run, we came to the bench and said, ‘OK, now let’s make our run,’ and we did.”

The Clippers, meanwhile, were just shaking their heads.

“It was really a weird game for us,” Chris Kaman said. “I can’t put my finger on it, but it was just a strange game, we weren’t ourselves.”

Perhaps the pressure of being the team with higher expectations got the best of them? Maybe it was more fun when they were underdogs?

This was a Lakers home game but, for the first time ever, there were substantial cheers for the Clippers.

“Things were definitely more intense,” Walton said. “It was only one out of 82, but it felt like more.”

And when was the last time you heard Lakers fans openly and vociferously boo a Clipper? Yet, they jumped on the back of Tim Thomas, who sunk the Lakers last spring while playing for the Phoenix Suns, yet hit only one of four three-point baskets.

It’s not that the Lakers are, or will ever be, in danger of losing the town to the Clippers. Not with nine Los Angeles championships and decades of excellence hanging from their waists. Not a chance.

“Let’s not get carried away here,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said before the game. “The Clippers haven’t done anything yet. They’ve gotten through one round of the playoffs.... This is a dyed-in-the-wool Lakers town.”

The most substantial difference between the two teams here can be found in the locker rooms.

The Lakers locker room has 4,900 square feet.

The Clippers locker room has 3,600 square feet.

This is because Phil Anschutz, who owns the Kings, also owns about 30% of the Lakers, and they were partners from the beginning of construction.

The Clippers were not added as tenants until later in the building process, so a special locker room had to be carved out for them.

They have since carved a much bigger spot, but, as Tuesday proved, they own nothing yet.

“The Lakers were here from the start and when the Clippers came, people thought they would never do it, but they’ve done it,” said Tim Leiweke, the Staples Center president, with a grin. “Right now, everybody is happy.”

Count me in.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.