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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — LA Clippers power forward Kawhi Leonard had his breakout game Wednesday night at home against the Brooklyn Nets, scoring a season-high 23 points in just under 24 minutes to lead the Clippers to a 126-67 victory.
The 59-point win by the Clippers marked the largest in the franchise’s 55-year history, and the largest out of the 597 games played in the NBA this season. It was also the worst loss in the 58-year history of the Nets, a franchise that entered the NBA in 1976 and started in 1967 in the ABA.
Leonard, who missed the first 34 games of the season to strengthen his surgically repaired right knee, was only playing in his fourth game. This was the first time Leonard led the Clippers in scoring since March 29, 2024, in a road win against the Orlando Magic.
The Nets were on zero days rest after a 132-114 road win the previous night against the Portland Trail Blazers that featured 42 points and 22 assists combined from veterans Ben Simmons, Cameron Johnson and D’Angelo Russell. All three veterans missed the Clippers game; Simmons due to lower back injury management, Johnson due to an ankle sprain and Russell due to a combination of left hamstring tightness and a right shin contusion.
The Clippers, starting a lineup of Leonard, James Harden, Ivica Zubac, Norman Powell and Derrick Jones Jr., was only tied at 21 through one quarter of play against the Nets. But after Leonard started the second half with a bench lineup that featured Kris Dunn, Nicolas Batum, Amir Coffey and Terance Mann, LA took full advantage of the shorthanded Nets.
The Los Angeles Clippers delivered a historic performance, defeating the Brooklyn Nets by 59 points, the largest win in franchise history 🔥
Kawhi Leonard in only 24 minutes of play:◻️ 23 PTS ◻️ 8-11 FG pic.twitter.com/hKkWHw9G4y
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) January 16, 2025
“They were missing a few of their starters,” Leonard said of the Nets. “When guys come in and you’re not really knowing the offense or defense, it can get like that. Especially with us trying to improve and just be as best as we can be. So it’s understandable.”
The Clippers took their first double-digit lead after Leonard got into the paint for a bucket to give LA a 39-28 lead with 6:36 left in the first half, part of a 20-4 run that saw the Nets held without a field goal for more than six minutes. With 1:59 left in the first half, Coffey finished a dunk following a behind-the-back pass from Harden to give the Clippers a 56-35 lead. At halftime, the Clippers were up 58-35, the second-fewest points the Clippers allowed in a half this season. Leonard, who had his minute restriction relaxed from the 20 minutes he played in his first three games of the season, tied his season-high with 12 first-half points.
“He was really good,” said Clippers coach Tyronn Lue of Leonard, who will be held out of the Clippers’ Thursday road game at Portland. “His pace, his force. How he got to his spots, you know, I thought was really good.
“So just keep stacking these days, feeling good, of trusting it, believing in it. And like I say, he put the work in to get to this point. So tonight was a good run, to really go hard and really test it out and feel good about it. So I thought he did that tonight, and he looked pretty good.”
The third quarter was Leonard’s best, as he scored 11 points on 4-of-4 field goals in his final 9:39 of play. The Clippers — who were blown out a week ago when visiting a Denver Nuggets team that was playing on the second night of a back-to-back without league MVP Nikola Jokić while Leonard departed the team to attend to his family amid the Los Angeles wildfires — did not play with their food to begin the second half. LA opened up the third quarter on a 19-1 run, taking a 66-35 lead with 10:43 left in the period following a Powell 3-pointer and a 75-35 lead with 9:30 left in the period following a technical foul on first-year Nets coach Jordi Fernandez. Leonard drew a 3-shot foul from Nets reserve forward Jalen Wilson with 6:09 left in the third quarter, and Leonard made all three free throws to give the Clippers an 88-38 lead.
“I didn’t have to say anything,” Leonard said of his teammates’ focus. “Tonight, everybody was still engaged. It’s always a few plays where you’re not as focused. But it was nothing to be said. The lead kept going up all night.”
Kawhi doin’ Kawhi things 🖐️ https://t.co/kt84i7avaw pic.twitter.com/UWY0T2l7HG
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) January 16, 2025
LA led 102-51 through three quarters, and the starters did not play in the fourth quarter. But the Clippers third string handled the rest, with two-way contract Kai Jones finishing an alley-oop from Bones Hyland to give LA a 113-53 lead with 8:11 left to play. Hyland later made a 3 with 5:27 left to give the Clippers a 121-57 lead, the largest of the game.
“I think everybody contributed and played well,” said Harden, who passed former Clipper and Basketball Hall of Fame Dominique Wilkins for 15th on the all-time scoring list. “You need guys to have confidence going into each game, that’s very important.”
While the Clippers go on to Portland and seek their first win on zero days of rest since Nov. 18, the Nets continue a six-game road trip Friday night when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers. It will be an opportunity for the Nets, losers of 17 of their last 22 games, to bounce back after an embarrassing showing.
“When you see a loss like this, a lot of things went wrong,” said Fernandez after his team missed 23 of 28 3s. Brooklyn also had 22 turnovers while shooting 30.1 percent from the field.
“Obviously, the energy and the competitive spirit was not there. It is plain and simple,” Fernandez continued. “But right now, the only thing I can do is support the guys. It is never a good experience to go through this, but analyzing the whole season, none of our guys work for this and they’ve competed the whole time. So all I can do is support them. Obviously, own this myself as well, and then show up the next day and try to be better. If it’s nights like these that make us a little bit, even one percent better, then I’ll take it. It’s not fun, but that’s just the way you gotta see it.”
The two teams will meet again in Brooklyn on March 28. Lue empathized with Fernandez’s plight but was also pleased to see that his own team controlled a game they were supposed to win.
“It was good for us to get our guys out and come out in that third quarter with a professional mindset,” Lue said. “We know Jordi didn’t have his guys tonight. And so, we had to take full advantage of it, because they play hard. They scrap, they compete. So we just had to have a professional mindset coming out of that third quarter, and we did that. So our guys are able to get some rest going into tomorrow to a back-to-back, so we got to be ready for tomorrow night.”
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(Photo: Kiyoshi Mio / Imagn Images)
