On a three-game winning streak to match their longest of the brief James Harden era, the Los Angeles Clippers finally are finding a stride with their new look as they host the Portland Trail Blazers Monday.
Yet, even as different as the Clippers have become after adding a pure scorer like Harden, there was a throwback look to their 117-103 road victory against the Utah Jazz on Friday when Kawhi Leonard was the clear focus of the offense.
Leonard scored a season-best 41 points Friday on 23 shot attempts (he made 14).
“He was getting to his spot, making the right play, got into the paint, got to his fadeaway, got to the basket a little bit,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said of Leonard’s all-around performance.
Paul George added 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting as Leonard and George combined to go 8 of 13 from 3-point range. Big man Ivica Zubac had 18 points and 12 rebounds in a team-best 42 minutes.
As for Harden, he continues to have more of a passive role in the offense, at least by his standards. Harden scored 12 points against the Jazz on 2-of-8 shooting and dished out a team-best eight assists.
“James is going to play the game to win,” Lue said. “He’s not really worried about stats or shots or getting himself going.
“When he’s on the floor, he gets guys easy shots, he gets us close-out opportunities. Having him on the floor … is huge for us.”
All five Clippers starters played at least 30 minutes, with Russell Westbrook finishing with a season-low 17 minutes off the bench, scoring five points on 2-of-7 shooting.
The Trail Blazers limp into Los Angeles on a three-game losing streak while dropping 12 of their past 15 contests. Monday’s game will be Portland’s sixth road game among their past seven contests. Starting Thursday, they will play eight of nine at home to close out the calendar year.
Playing without Damian Lilllard for the first time in 12 seasons, the Trail Blazers have found the transition been predictably rough.
Jerami Grant leads Portland with 22.1 points per game but won’t play Monday while in concussion protocol. Shaedon Sharpe is scoring 18.4 per contest, while new big man Deandre Ayton is scoring 12.9 points with 10.8 rebounds.
Ayton (knee) and Malcolm Brogdon (knee) are listed as questionable.
Help has arrived with the return of Anfernee Simons, who missed 18 of the first 19 games with a thumb injury. In the two games since he has returned, Simons has averaged 29.0 points and has played at least 36 minutes in each contest.
But Simons played without Brogdon, Grant and Ayton while scoring 30 points in Friday’s 125-112 home loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
“He changes things for us,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said of Simons. “Having him back, it helps everything. He’s been really good defensively as well, back scrapping out there. But from an offensive standpoint, he just gets different coverages. …
“It just kind of sucked that when he came back, our other vets aren’t playing and are banged up.”
–Field Level Media