BY AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Los Angeles Clippers took full advantage of the injury absence of LeBron James on Tuesday, Jan. 23, to score a 127-116 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and James Harden added 23 as the Clippers’ impressive recent form continued with a third straight victory.
Former Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook was among six Clippers players to reach double figures in a balanced offensive performance by Tyronn Lue’s side.
The Lakers, missing James due to a sore ankle, were led by D’Angelo Russell with 27 points while Anthony Davis finished with 26.
After briefly trailing early in the first quarter, the Clippers maintained control, leading by 16 points just before half-time and successfully keeping the Lakers at arm’s length for most of the game.
Although the Lakers got to within two points midway through the fourth quarter, the Clippers tightened their defense and pulled away late in the game.
“For us we’re taking it day by day,” Westbrook said afterwards.
“We’ve got so much talent, so many great Hall-of-Famers in this locker room and our job is to make sure that every night we keep chipping away.”
Tuesday’s victory leaves the Clippers in fourth place in the Western Conference standings with 28 wins against 14 losses, behind the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets.
In other games on Tuesday, Oklahoma City Thunder moved to top spot in the West with a nail-biting 111-109 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Jalen Williams’ pull-up jump shot with two seconds remaining sealed the win for the Thunder, who trailed by nine points in the third quarter.
“It’s a shot I work on a lot,” Williams said afterwards. “Coach drew the play up for me to shoot it. He had a lot of faith in me to get to the spot I needed to be in and to make the shot.”
Nuggets rally past Pacers
Elsewhere Tuesday, Nikola Jokic scored a 31-point triple-double as Denver held off a late rally to defeat the Indiana Pacers 114-109.
A wild game in Indianapolis saw the lead change hands 12 times before the Nuggets finally edged clear late in the fourth quarter.
Both teams led by double digits at different stages of the game, with the Pacers opening up a 13-point advantage in the second quarter before a devastating third quarter from Denver -– outscoring Indiana 39-19 –- wrested back the initiative for the reigning NBA champions.
Even then, there was still time for the Pacers to fight back, wiping out the Nuggets’ 13-point fourth quarter advantage to lead briefly before a late burst of scoring sealed Denver’s victory.
“The whole first half was bad, but the second half was good for us,” Jokic said.
“We had a really good third quarter. We controlled the pace. We just need to do that in more of the game.”
Jokic finished with 31 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Denver scoring alongside Jamal Murray, who had 31 points with eight rebounds and seven assists.
With the Pacers still missing the injured Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana’s scoring was led by Myles Turner with 22 points while new recruit Pascal Siakam finished with 16 points.
The Pacers meanwhile had head coach Rick Carlisle ejected for questioning a no-foul call on Siakam in the third quarter.
“I got run out because I didn’t like what I was seeing out there at all. Not one bit,” Carlisle explained after the game. “I’ll leave it at that.”
Also on Tuesday, the New York Knicks won their local derby with the Brooklyn Nets 108-103 after a remarkable late rally.
The Nets looked to be on course for victory after taking a 10-point lead late in the third quarter, only for the Knicks to outscore them 32-18 in the fourth quarter to snatch the win.
Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson each scored 30 points apiece for the Knicks to set up a battling victory.
Mikal Bridges was the pick of Brooklyn’s scorers with 36 points, including seven three-pointers.
