Kobe Bryant can’t lose to the Clippers again. Or he’d be subjected to days of ribbing from Chris Paul and Blake Griffin at All-Star weekend, right?

“I’m not worried about that. They can’t tell me nothing, anyway,” Bryant said.

But the Clippers definitely qualify as rising stars, 11½ games ahead of the Lakers and screaming toward their first division title in 29 seasons of angst and apathy since moving to Los Angeles.

A nice footnote for the franchise moving steadily forward — a victory Thursday hands the Clippers the season series against the Lakers for the first time since 1992-93.

“I think for the city, us being where we are and being a much better team than we have traditionally been and the Lakers kind of having a down season at this point, it’s probably a big game for the city,” Clippers guard Chauncey Billups said.

Clippers-Lakers. It might finally have tilted in the other direction.

The Lakers trail in the season series, 2-0, and their only other game against the Clippers after Thursday is April 7. The Clippers won the first two games 105-95 and 107-102.

via Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times