By Mykell Mathieu
LOS ANGELES — The Clippers have now won three straight games after defeating the Utah Jazz Friday night, 117-103.
Star forward Kawhi Leonard put together his best offensive performance of the the year scoring 41 points to snap an 11-game road losing streak against the Jazz.
Leonard made a season-high 14 field goals in 23 attempts, was 6 of 8 from 3-point range and made all seven of his free throws. He also had five rebounds and five assists.
“We got stops and we made shots,” said Leonard. “Our defense kept us going. We had a steady group and a good mindset to keep moving.”
Los Angeles has kept a good mindset after early struggles to help complete a full turn around since the James Harden acquisition.
The Clippers are now 8-3 since the loss to the Denver Nuggets on November 14th.
That loss on the on November 14th dropped the Clippers to 0-5 after the blockbuster trade but now the team has found it’s way.
“We haven’t been consistent yet to say what we are as a team,” said wing Paul George, who has averaged 23.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game. “We are figuring out ways to win. It’s not always pretty for a full 48 minutes, but we have found some success in finishing games. I think that’s the silver lining for the team that’s learning how to win.”
That learning process has taken a little while but one thing this team can count on this season is that their star players will be available. George and Leonard has played in all 21 games after one or both finished each of the last three seasons injured.
The confidence for this team has developed slowly but they are still in contention to be a top-three team in the Western Conference standings.
“You see really good teams still struggling, so it’s just people want to say something because I got here and I am an easy target,” said Harden, who after one month as a Clipper is averaging 16 points, 6.7 assists and 4.2 rebounds. “But for us, we’re finding each other, we’re figuring each other out.”
Leonard, George, Harden and Russell Westbrook are future hall of famers who will be leaned upon to get the best out of this roster and have seemed to find a formula that is leading to victories.
The Clippers will look to keep the exceptional play going with four games at home this week.
The team should be favored in those matchups against the Portland Trailblazers, Sacremento Kings, Golden State Warriors and the New York Knicks.
If LA can find a way to win all four of these games we may be looking at a true contender in the Western Conference going forward.
