The suddenly explosive Los Angeles Clippers are racking up points and victories.
Fresh off a season-high 151 points, the Clippers go for their ninth consecutive victory when they visit Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles has won three of its past four games by at least 20 points and is averaging 147.5 over the past two. The Clippers routed the visiting New York Knicks 144-122 on Saturday before beginning a three-game road trip with a 151-127 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday.
The uptick has occurred due to recently acquired James Harden clicking with fellow stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
“Honestly, we’ve been locked in, everybody’s playing at a high level,” George said after scoring 27 points against Indiana. “We’re taking care of the ball. Our defense has been great. And our attention to detail has been great.”
Harden scored 21 of his season-best 35 points in the fourth quarter against the Pacers. He tallied 18 straight Los Angeles points during one stretch, connecting on five 3-pointers as the Clippers finished off the win.
Harden has averaged 17.1 points in 21 games with Los Angeles, but the production has increased as of late, as he has scored at least 20 in six of his past 10 appearances.
Leonard also is on an impressive roll and has topped 30 points in six of his past 11 games. He fell just short against Indiana with 28 points on 12-of-18 shooting.
Leonard is shooting 68.8 percent from the field (44 of 64) over the past four games.
“It’s exactly what I envisioned, just how we should play and how we can play,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “The biggest thing is just PG, Kawhi and James making each other better on a night-to-night basis.”
Leonard had mixed performances as Los Angeles split two games with Dallas earlier this season.
He scored 26 points during a 144-126 road loss to the Mavericks on Nov. 10, then had just eight points on 2-of-12 shooting in a 107-88 home win over Dallas on Nov. 25.
Doncic averaged 37 points in the two games against the Clippers. He had 44 points on 17-of-21 shooting in the Dallas victory and 30 while making just 1 of 8 3-point attempts in the Mavericks’ loss.
Doncic has been sizzling all season and extended his franchise record streak of consecutive 30-point games to 11 during Monday’s 130-104 road loss against the Denver Nuggets.
But it was a rough night defensively for Dallas, which has allowed an average of 123.5 points over the past four games.
“Give Denver credit,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said. “We just missed (open shots) and we had some good looks there. But our defense, we need to be better defensively if we are not scoring.
“As a coach I need to be better. But the big thing is our defense. Our defense — if we are not scoring — needs to be better to give us a chance. We can’t just rely on Luka to have 40 to bail us out.”
Dante Exum was the only other Dallas player to score in double figures with 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting.
Dallas will be without star guard Kyrie Irving (heel) for the sixth straight game. Also ruled out is big man Dereck Lively II (ankle), who sat out against Denver after being injured in Saturday’s 131-120 road victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
“It’s got to be the next man up,” Doncic said. “And we’ve got to be way better.”
–Field Level Media