INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored a season-high 32 points and the slumping Los Angeles Clippers rode their 3-point shooting to a 103-88 victory over LeBron James and the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, snapping a five-game skid.
Luka Doncic, the NBA's scoring leader, didn't return for the Lakers after halftime because of a lower leg contusion. He had 12 points and five rebounds in 19 minutes after missing his first six shots. Doncic was coming off a triple-double of 45 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists at Utah on Thursday.
James, who turns 41 on Dec. 30, led the Lakers with a season-high 36 points.
James Harden had 21 points and 10 assists for the Clippers. John Collins added 17 points and 12 rebounds.
The Clippers were 16 of 43 from 3-point range, with Leonard tying his season high with four, Harden making four and Brook Lopez hitting three off the bench. The Lakers missed 32 3-pointers, with James going 3 of 7, Doncic 1 of 6 and Marcus Smart missing all of his nine attempts.
The Clippers had lost 12 of their last 15 to fall to the bottom of the Western Conference. But they led the entire game and held off a Lakers spurt that cut their lead to seven to open the fourth.
The Lakers got that close with the help of a six-point possession. Kobe Sanders received a flagrant-1 foul on Smart's 3-point attempt. Smart made all three free throws and the Lakers got possession. James scored, got fouled and made the free throw, leaving them trailing 80-73.
The Clippers answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Collins and Harden to go with Leonard's dunk off James' turnover. The Lakers then ran off six in a row to close to 88-79.
Recommended for you
From there, the Clippers closed out just their seventh win of the season.
The Clippers lost Ivica Zubac to a left ankle injury after he scored five points while playing most of the first quarter.
Rui Hachimura missed his first start of the season for the Lakers with a sore groin. He’s expected to be out 3-5 days. The team hopes to get Deandre Ayton (left elbow) and Austin Reaves (left calf) back soon.
Up next
Lakers: At Phoenix on Tuesday to end an eight-game trip.
Clippers: Host former MVP Kevin Durant and Houston on Tuesday.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.