Kawhi Leonard returned to the Los Angeles Clippers' lineup after missing the past three games with a left knee contusion. He made a significant impact, scoring 24 points ina 112-104 winover the Los Angeles Lakers at the Intuit Center on Thursday night.
Leonard came into Thursday's game averaging a career-high 28.9 points while playing in 30 of the Clippers' 43 games. He had scored a combined 68 points versus the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets in the two games he played before sitting out with his injury. Leonard played 25 minutes, shooting 9-for-19 (and 3-of-7 on 3-pointers) from the floor.
The Clippers held a 79-53 lead midway through the third quarter after an Ivica Zubac dunk. From there, however, the Lakers chipped away at that 26-point margin with a 19-7 run to end the frame. That became a 34-14 run that trimmed the Clippers' lead to 93-85 by the 7:40 mark of the fourth quarter.
A Luka Dončić fadeaway 3-pointer with Kris Dunn guarding him moved the Lakers to within 93-91 with 5:56 remaining. But James Harden countered with a 3 of his own to finally stop the Lakers' momentum and steady the Clippers. John Collins followed with a layup and Zubac hit two free throws to restore the Clippers' lead back to 100-91 with under four minutes to play.
Clippers coach Ty Lue then won a big replay challenge, arguing that a foul on Jordan Miller should instead be ruled a loose ball foul on the Lakers' Marcus Smart. Lue won the challenge, which took two free throws away from Smart and awarded them to Miller because the Lakers were in the penalty. Miller made one of the two free throws, but that gave the Clippers a 10-point lead.
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Yet the Lakers fought back again with LeBron James getting a fast-break dunk and Smart turning a Miller turnover into a jumper. Leonard committed another turnover, losing the ball out of bounds, and that led to a Jarred Vanderbilt dunk to cut the Clippers' lead to 103-99.
Following two free throws by Zubac, James was fouled on a layup and made the subsequent free throw for a 3-point play to pull the Lakers to within 105-102. But Zubac followed with a reverse dunk and Collins hit a 3-pointer after Rui Hachimura missed a long-range shot of his own. That was the dagger, giving the Clippers a 110-102 lead with 43 seconds remaining.
Doncic finished with a game-high 32 points, but shot 11-of-27 from the floor (including 3-of-13 on 3s). He added 11 rebounds and 8 assists. James scored 23 points after tallying only 9 at halftime. But he also shot 9-of-19 while grabbing 5 rebounds and dishing out 6 assists.
The Lakers' loss dropped them to 26-17 andthe No. 6 spot in the Western Conference, behind the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns. Up next, they visit the Dallas Mavericks (19-26) for a nationally televised prime-time matchup Saturday on ABC. The Mavs have won four in a row and five of their past six games.
For the Clippers, Zubac scored 18 points with 19 rebounds while Harden also scored 18 and notched 10 assists. Altogether, seven Clippers reached double figures in scoring. The win was the Clippers' 14th in their past 17 games and improved their record to 20-24, good for 10th place in the West. They're off until Sunday, when they host the Brooklyn Nets (12-30).
