He blocked a jumper by Austin Reaves from behind, hit Zubac for an alley-oop, assisted Eric Gordon on a 3 before drilling his first three shots, including two 3-pointers. Westbrook, playing with electric energy, helped the Clippers bolt to a 20-8 lead. Norm had a big half, Bones had a big half,, so they closed the game out for us tonight."Īll eyes were on Westbrook from the start in his first meeting against his former team since the Lakers traded him to Utah, which bought him out of his contract and allowed him to sign with the Clippers. "They threw a little different defense at me in the second half. "I thought I did a good job," Leonard said of playing the entire half. While the Lakers sent double teams at Leonard to help hold him to six shots and eight points in the second half, Leonard's presence on the court opened things for Norman Powell and Bones Hyland.īoth guards scored 14 points each in the second half with Hyland scoring all 14 of his in the fourth quarter to match James. James scored 30 of his 33 points in the second half. While they beat their hallway rival for a franchise-record-tying 11th consecutive time, the Clippers had to fend off the Lakers, who cut a 24-point third-quarter deficit down to seven multiple times. The Clippers (42-38) are tied with the Golden State Warriors (42-38) but currently occupy the fifth spot in the Western Conference playoff standings with two games remaining in the regular season. "He knew how important this win was for us. "He said he felt good," Clippers coach Ty Lue said of Leonard. While LeBron James had the upper hand that night, Leonard helped the Clippers stave off a furious second-half rally by James on Wednesday night in what felt like a do-or-die game for both teams trying desperately to avoid the play-in tournament. The last time Leonard played an entire half was the second half of Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat. In the biggest game of the season for the Clippers, Leonard played the entire second half for only the third time in his career, finishing with 25 points and seven rebounds in a 125-118 victory over the Lakers before a sold-out crowd at Arena. LOS ANGELES - Russell Westbrook started the night off with a bang against his former team, but it was Kawhi Leonard who secured yet another Clippers win over the Los Angeles Lakers by doing something he hasn't done in a decade. Kawhi Leonard plays entire 2nd half as Clippers top Lakers You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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