Kawhi Leonard, Darius Garland and Bennedict Mathurin combined for 74 points as the Los Angeles Clippers routed the visiting Toronto Raptors 119-94 on Wednesday.
Los Angeles (37-36) led nearly wire-to-wire on the way to their third consecutive win, pouncing on Toronto in the first quarter and never looking back.
The Clippers built a 14-point lead by the end of the first quarter behind a hot start from Brook Lopez. The veteran center scored 11 of his 14 points in the opening period.
The Los Angeles bench joined in to contribute to the early-game deluge. Reserves Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and Nicolas Batum combined to score the last 13 of the Clippers’ first-quarter points, setting the tone for 52 points from the bench.
Mathurin’s 23 led the second unit. Jackson added 12.
Toronto (40-32), closing out a 2-3 road swing, could not close the gap to within a single-digit-point margin, shooting just 40 of 96 from the floor. Brandon Ingram, who scored a team-high 18 points, and Jakob Poeltl, who finished with 10 points, shot 8 of 18 and 5 of 9 from the floor, respectively.
They were the only Raptors starters to connect at better than a 33% clip. RJ Barrett finished with 12 points, shooting just 5 of 19 from the floor, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
Toronto’s 10-of-29 3-point shooting — compared to the Clippers’ 16 of 35 — helped make the difference. Garland sank a game-high five 3-pointers on nine attempts on his way to 24 points.
Garland added six assists and four rebounds.
Leonard led all scorers with 27 points. He connected on a mid-range 2-pointer and a 3-pointer to bookend a Lopez 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, part of a 14-2 run that effectively slammed the door on Toronto’s last-gasp rally effort.
Lopez added five rebounds and anchored the Los Angeles defensive effort with five blocked shots and a pair of steals.
–Field Level Media
