Chris Paul/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

The Lakers (20-55) have their hands full with virtually every team in the NBA. They’ll be extra full Sunday when they square off with their hallway-neighbor Clippers (50-26) at 6:30 p.m. at Staples Center. Coach Byron Scott knows it, too.

“Chris Paul is probably the best leader in this league and he’s probably the most competitive guy I’ve ever been around,” said Scott, who coached Paul at New Orleans. “He’s going to bring an attitude. And then, to go along with that, Blake (Griffin) and DeAndre (Jordan) and J.J. (Redick) is great as well. So right now they’re just playing great basketball.The challenge for us is to keep them out of the paint, keep them out as much as possible. Of course, when they shoot jump-shots, they’re contested. The biggest challenge after that is rebounding the ball.”

Paul is averaging 19.2 points, a league-high 10.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals.