Kawhi Leonard’s hot streak is inserting much-needed life into the Los Angeles Clippers.
Leonard looks for another superb outing and the Clippers seek a season-best third straight victory when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.
Leonard scored 32 points in Saturday’s 103-88 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers and followed up with a season-best 41 in Tuesday’s 128-108 triumph over the Houston Rockets.
It marked just the second time the eight-win Clippers have won back-to-back games all season. Despite Los Angeles sitting in 13th place in the Western Conference, Leonard is confident the Clippers can make a run up the standings.
“We all know how many games we lost early,” Leonard said after Tuesday’s victory. “I don’t know how many games are left, probably 50-plus so, it’s a long season. So, anytime we put on this jersey, you got to compete and try to win a basketball game, and that’s what I’m taking pride in. I think everybody else is, too — win, lose or draw.
“We don’t have a give-up mentality even though the record looks like that,” he added. “But like I said, we got to compete.”
Leonard was 16-of-23 shooting against the Rockets and missed just one 3-point attempt while making four for the second straight game. He has scored 20 or more points in each of his last 11 appearances.
James Harden scored 29 points against Houston and has topped 20 in four of his last five appearances.
Harden also hopes the Clippers are ready to kick it into a higher gear with five consecutive home games following the visit to Portland.
“I don’t know what it feels like to be in this position with this record,” said Harden, 36, in his 17th NBA season. “So, I always feel like we’re better than obviously the record shows. We got an opportunity, these home games coming up, to take advantage of it and rack up some wins.”
The Trail Blazers dug themselves out of big holes in each of their past two games but were on the losing side both times.
Portland trailed by 21 in the third quarter against the Detroit Pistons before losing 110-102. The Trail Blazers rallied to take a 100-99 lead with 4:13 remaining before Detroit finished on an 11-2 burst.
One night later against Orlando, Portland trailed by 17 early in the third quarter and had a chance to tie the contest, but Shaedon Sharpe split two free throws with 38 seconds to leave the Trail Blazers down one before the Magic closed it out.
“We’re just going to continue to fight, we’re not going to back off,” Portland standout Deni Avdija said of the setbacks. “We believe in each other. … Those losses are tough, but you really learn from them. I’d rather lose close games like that then get blown out.”
Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter said the mood of the team remains strong despite difficult losses.
“This effort is going to pay off sooner or later,” Splitter said. “The most important thing is you have to compete and be in those moments to try and win basketball games.”
Avdija scored 25 points against Orlando and he has scored 24 or more points in nine of the past 12 games.
The Clippers have won 19 of the past 21 meetings with Portland, including a 114-107 home victory on Oct. 26. Leonard had 30 points and 10 rebounds for Los Angeles while Avdija scored 23 for the Trail Blazers.
