By Mykell Mathieu
NEW ORLEANS — Paul George knocked down six 3-pointers to finish with 24 points to help the Clippers defeat the New Orleans Pelicans 111-95 on Friday night.
Kawhi Leonard added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Clippers. James Harden put together a great point guard performance for LA finishing the game with eight points and 13 assists while only turning over one time.
The Clippers led by as many as 31 points early in the fourth quarter.
The second quarter is where the Clippers started their dominance in this game. They won the quarter 30-15 led by dominant defense.
Los Angeles’ defense was the story of the game. The Pelicans star players Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson were both held to 12 points a piece. Williamson left in the third quarter with a right leg injury.
New Orleans leading scorer was Jonas Valanciunas who finished the game with 13 points.
“I just think defensively, we were locked in,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.
Ingram has been a tough matchup for Los Angeles lately but the team was able to slow him down tonight. The former Laker was averaging 32 points per in his last four games against the Clippers.
“We wanted to make sure we tried to take the ball out of his hands early, because he’s had first quarters against us that have been crazy,” said Lue, whose team had lost four straight to Ne Orleans. “He had nine shots, and nine shots for an All-Star player just shows that we’ve done a good job trying to take the ball out of his hands.”
The Clippers have won five straight games and are 14-2 since starting the season 8-10.
Next up, Los Angeles will have a “road game” at their home venue, Crypto.com Arena, against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
