Los Angeles– The Los Angeles Clippers are on a seven-game win streak after scoring their season-high points and defeating the New York Knicks 144-122.
Kawhi Leonard delivered an impressive performance, scoring 36 points efficiently on 12-of-16 shooting, which included connecting on five 3-pointers. The Clippers are currently undefeated in December, while Leonard has been averaging 29.4 points during their current streak. Leonard has scored 169 points in 177 minutes on 65% shooting. When asked if this was the best stretch in his career, Leonard stated “If you want to put it in numbers-wise, “I’m focused on something bigger than that stretch”.
It was a close contest in the beginning of the game with the Clippers leading the game 35-33 at the end of the first quarter. The Knicks took a 61-57 lead with 3:37 to go in the second period before the Clippers ended the quarter on a 20-5 run to take a 77-66 lead into halftime. The Clippers shot 52% from the field in the first half, connecting on 23 of 44 attempts from the field, and shot 41% from behind the arc, making 5 of 12.
Kawhi Leonard led the way for the Clippers scoring 20 on 6 of 8 shooting. The Knicks went 22 of 44 from the field shooting 50% and shot 46% from deep, managing to make 7 of 15 attempts from the field in the first half. Donte DiVincenzo led the Knicks in scoring for the half, scoring 15 points and going 4-4 from the three-point line.
In the second half, Paul George who had missed the Clippers’ previous game with a sore hip, scored 19 of his 25 points on 8 for 10 shooting from the field and going 3 for 5 from behind the arc. Jalen Brunson who was coming off of a career night with 50 points and a historic outing after going 9-9 from deep against the Phoneix Suns, had 22 points for the Knicks. Julius Randle contributed 22 points as well for the Knicks.
The Clippers, who were once on the wrong side of a streak after going 0-5 after acquiring James Harden are now figuring things out and have won an NBA’s best seven games in a row. Head Coach Tyronn Lue commented about his team’s success after the game “We still got to continue to keep getting better,” Lue said, “but the progress is being made.”
The Clippers now look to make it eight victories in a row as they prepare to go on the road and battle a young Indiana Pacers squad.
