Behind James Harden’s Triple Double and Kawhi Leonard’s 20-point first half, Los Angeles Clippers expands its season-long winning line to seven matches with a 101-100 defeat of host Sacramento Kings on Friday.
Harden got its third triple bold of the season in a closing distance and took a couple of offensive returns. Clippers (49-32) could not convert a point from Harden’s boards, but with Norman Powell adding another offensive rebound chewing Los Angeles, more than 40 critical seconds.
The time-consuming sequence and a free throw from Harden-that ended with 23 points, 11 returns and 10 assist-helped clippers to hold a furious, late-game-rally by Sacramento (39-42), driven by Zach Lavine’s Torid finish.
Lavine scored 10 of her team high 26 points in the final 3:39, including turning down a couple of 3 points, to lead the kings on a game-ending 12-4 run.
Spurt became almost a game-winning run when a Harden turnover during the closing seconds gave Sacramento a look at the final shot, but Demar Derozan’s 3-point attempt was not good. Los Angeles was doing even though he almost beat a lead held through the second half.
Leonard covered his outstanding first half with a last second 3-pointer and sent Los Angeles at half time on an 11-3 run. Leonard continued the decisive spurt immediately after the break, when the Clippers scored the first six points of the half to extend the driving to 17-3.
Although he had the lead in the second half, the Clippers never led by more than 10 points. The kings remained at a striking distance between the sabonis 19-point, 16-rebound double-double and Derozan’s 16 points.
Clippers countered with a game high 28 points for Leonard, 16 points from Powell and a 17-point, 11-Rebound double-double from Ivica Zubac. Derrick Jones Jr. added 11 points from the bench.
With the victory, Los Angeles ended a seasonal sweep of the kings. Clippers also remain in violation of a top-four seed and home plan advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
With a game left, Clippers are bound with Denver Nuggets for the 4 seeds in the Western Conference and a game before the Golden State and Minnesota. Clippers close the usual on Sunday and visit Warriors.
-Field level media
