Kawhi Leonard scored 24 points with 12 rebounds against his former team and Paul George added 23 points as the Los Angeles Clippers used improved defense to rally from a slow start and earn a 108-100 victory Wednesday over the visiting Toronto Raptors.
Ivica Zubac scored 17 points for the Clippers, who won their second consecutive game following a five-game losing streak. Terance Mann scored 14 points for Los Angeles, which shot 54.9 percent from the field to 38.5 percent for Toronto.
The Clippers gave up their lowest point total since they allowed 100 against the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 26. They had given up an average of 131.7 points over their previous six games, including a Feb. 24 game when they gave up 176 points to the Sacramento Kings in double-overtime.
Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes each scored 20 points as the Raptors fell to 1-3 on a five-game road trip that ends Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers. Toronto then plays seven of its next eight games at home.
O.G. Anunoby scored 18 points for the Raptors, who lost both games to the Clippers this season after a 124-113 defeat at home on Dec. 27. Chris Boucher scored 14 points, Fred VanVleet added 13 and Jakob Poeltl had 11 rebounds for Toronto.
The Clippers used a 9-0 run to take a 79-68 lead with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter on a jumper from George for their first double-digit advantage of the game. Los Angeles led 83-74 heading into the fourth quarter.
Los Angeles built its largest lead of the game to that point at 100-85 with 5:17 remaining on a drive and dunk in traffic by Leonard. Toronto went on an 11-1 run to pull within 104-100 with less than a minute to play before a dunk by Zubac put the Clippers up 106-100 with 42.8 seconds left.
The Clippers scored just 17 points in the first quarter to trail by eight but still managed to shoot 56.2 percent from the field in the first half to forge a 49-49 tie at halftime. Despite leading by 10 points in the first quarter, the Raptors shot 39.6 percent in the first half.
–Field Level Media