Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points on a season high 34 minutes, James Harden added 18 points with 10 assists, and Los Angeles Clippers got a victory 128-114 over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday at Inglewood, Calif.
Norman Powell also scored 18 points and Ivica Zubac added 12 points with 13 returns when the Clippers won his second game in a row after a three-match losing line. Bogdan Bogdanovic, acquired from Atlanta Hawks at the trade deadline, received seven points in his debut in Los Angeles.
The hardy moved past Hakeem Olajuwon and to the sole possession in 13th place on the NBA score list with 26,949 points.
Desmond Bane scored 23 points and Jaylen Wells added 18 when Grizzlies played without yes Morant (knee) the other night by a back-to-back. Memphis enters the All-Star break with losses in two of the last three matches.
Grizzlies shot 7 out of 9 (77.8 percent) from 3-point intervals during the first quarter and then shot 11 out of 27 the rest of the way to finish 18 out of 36 (50 percent) from distance in the game.
After a narrow first half, Clippers took the control by surpassing Grizzlies 36-21 during the third quarter when they shot 51.7 percent from the floor. Los Angeles led by as many as 23 in the frame and entered the final period with an advantage of 102-84.
Grizzlies fell behind 11-2 less than four minutes into the match and then surpassed the Clippers 37-17 to take a lead of 39-28 after a quarter. Memphis was 15 out of 23 (65.2 percent) from the floor during the first quarter.
The Clippers checked the second quarter and took a lead of 66-63 to half-time behind 14 points from Leonard, while Bane had 17 for grizzlies. Memphis committed 12 first half turnover that Los Angeles turned into 22 points.
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