NEW ORLEANS — Trey Murphy III scored 27 points and the New Orleans Pelicans extended their home winning streak to seven games with a 105-99 victory over the Clippers on Thursday night.
Saddiq Bey had 20 points and Zion Williamson added 15 for the Pelicans, who swept the two-game set against the Clippers after a 124-109 win, also at home, on Wednesday night.
Dejounte Murray was held out to rest as part of his comeback from a ruptured Achilles tendon. He had 17 points and a season-high 11 assists Wednesday night in his ninth game since making his season debut last month.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored 22 points, John Collins had 18 and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 16 for the Clippers, who lost their fourth in a row.
Kawhi Leonard sat out a night after scoring 25 points and grabbing eight rebounds in his return from a one-game absence because of a sprained left ankle.
The Pelicans trailed 94-91 with 5:53 after Collins’ floater, but Williamson made a layup and Murphy hit a three-pointer to put New Orleans up for good as it closed with a 14-5 run.
NEW ORLEANS — Saddiq Bey scored 25 points, Trey Murphy added 23 and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame an early 18-point hole to beat the Clippers 124-109 on Wednesday night.
Dejounte Murray had 17 points and 11 assists, while Zion Williamson and rookie Derrick Queen each scored 14 for the Pelicans, who received a standing ovation as the final seconds wound down on their sixth straight victory at home and ninth win in their last 13 games overall
Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and John Collins added 18 for the Clippers, who dropped a game below .500 (34-35), but maintained a tenuous hold on the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference standings, a half-game ahead of Portland.
Bey hit five of 10 three-point shots to help New Orleans go 16 of 37 (43.2%) from deep. The Pelicans also made 20 of 21 free throws, with Queen making all nine of his.
Pelicans rookie guard Jeremiah Fears chipped in 11 points off the bench.
Murphy made his 200th three of the season late in the third quarter to give New Orleans an 89-81 lead. His fourth make from deep made it 94-81 in the final minute of the period, which ended with New Orleans leading 96-85.
Murphy’s double-clutch dunk over Brook Lopez to close out a fast break spawned by Herb Jones’ steal gave New Orleans a 117-101 lead with 4:43 left, and the Pelicans led by as many as 20 in the final minutes.
New Orleans committed eight turnovers in the first nine minutes, and the Clippers converted those into nine points while building a 33-18 lead.
Leonard scored 12 of his points during that stint and the Clippers led by as many as 18 during the opening quarter before the Pelicans trimmed it to 40-26 on Murphy’s free throws.
New Orleans came all the way back to tie it at 58 on Murphy’s three late in the second quarter.
Leonard and Murphy traded baskets in the final 10 seconds before halftime, with Murphy tying it at 60 on a high, driving floater in traffic.
Victor Wembanyama had 21 points and 13 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs overcame an early 14-point deficit before blowing most of a 24-point lead and recovering to hold off the Clippers 119-115 on Monday night at Intuit Dome.
Stephon Castle had 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds to lead the Spurs (50-18), who reached 50 wins for the first time since 2016-17 and trail the first-place Thunder by three games in the West. Devin Vassell added 20 points.
Fighting to secure a spot for the play-in tournament, the Clippers’ second straight loss dropped them back to .500 with Kawhi Leonard watching from the bench. The NBA’s sixth-leading scorer sat out with a sprained left knee.
Darius Garland drives to the basket against De’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs in the second half.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Darius Garland led six Clippers in double figures with 25 points and 10 assists. Jordan Miller had 22 points off the bench, which outscored the Spurs’ reserves 57-30.
After the Spurs ran off seven in a row to lead 115-102, Garland scored seven of the Clippers’ nine points to get within four with 38 seconds remaining. But the Spurs made four straight free throws to preserve the win.
The Spurs led by 24 points in the third before the Clippers closed with a 16-3 run to trail by 10 going into the fourth.
The Spurs started slowly, missing eight of their first nine shots, while the Clippers surged to a 17-3 lead. They shot 65% from the floor in the opening quarter, hit five of seven three-pointers and made 10 of 12 free throws.
San Antonio turned things around in the second. The Spurs erased all of their 14-point deficit, helped by 15 straight points over the end of the first and start of the second. In the period, they outscored the Clippers 37-15 to lead 66-52 at halftime.
Russell Westbrook had 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his 209th career triple-double and DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 118-109 victory over the Clippers on Saturday night.
Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points before leaving with a sprained left ankle for the Clippers, whose four-game winning streak was stopped. It was Leonard’s 45th consecutive game with at least 20 points, topping Bob McAdoo’s franchise record set during the 1974-75 season when the team was based in Buffalo.
Leonard was injured with 9:27 left in the fourth quarter when he was guarding DeRozan and landed awkwardly before backpedaling a few steps and tumbling to the court. He popped up quickly, but limped noticeably to the Clippers’ bench before heading to the locker room. Leonard didn’t return to the game and there was no immediate word on whether he might miss time.
Precious Achiuwa added 25 points and 13 rebounds, Maxime Raynaud had 23 points and Daeqwon Plowden scored 15 for the Kings, who have won three of their last four games.
Darius Garland added 25 points and Bennedict Mathurin had 24 for Los Angeles, which had won its last five at home.
The game was close early and tied at 39 with 7:04 left in the second quarter, but Sacramento took over from there. The Kings led 68-54 at halftime and made it a 20-point game — their largest lead — at 90-70 on Plowden’s three-pointer with 2:19 left in the third quarter.
But the Clippers, even without Leonard, stormed back in the fourth and cut the deficit to 103-100 on a pullup basket by Mathurin with 4:15 remaining. Sacramento outscored Los Angeles 15-9 the rest of the way to seal the win.
Eighth in the Western Conference at 33-32 after opening 6-21, the Clippers had their highest point total of the season. They blew out Minnesota after beating New York on Monday night to open a five-game homestand.
Leonard was 15 of 20 from the the field, six of nine on threes and made nine of 10 free throws. Los Angeles made 19 of 37 threes.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 22 points for the Clippers and Darius Garland had 21, hitting five three-pointers.
Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 36 points and Naz Reid had 18.
Kawhi Leonard goes to the basket against Julius Randle in the first half.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Minnesota dropped to sixth in the tight Western Conference, but only a half-game behind the third-place Lakers. The Timberwolves have lost three in a row after winning five straight. They lost to the Lakers on Tuesday night to open four-game trip.
Leonard scored 18 points in the first quarter to help the Clippers take a 38-27 lead. He had 28 at the half, with the Clippers up 74-65, and went to the fourth with 39 and his team ahead 109-98. The Clippers had a 44-30 edge in the fourth.
Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin added 28 points, and the Clippers beat the New York Knicks 126-118 at Intuit Dome on Monday night to climb back to .500 for the first time since early November.
The Clippers are 32-32 and have won five of their first six games in March as they try to improve their potential position in the NBA play-in tournament. They began the season in a 6-21 tailspin.
It was Leonard’s 42nd straight game with 20-plus points, the second-longest active streak in the NBA and third-longest in team history.
Mathurin scored 22 in the second half off the bench as one of five Clippers in double figures. Darius Garland had 23 points and seven assists in his second start.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting, 12 rebounds and seven assists before fouling out in the final seconds. Jalen Brunson added 28 points and OG Anunoby had 22 points.
Buoyed by chants of “Let’s go Knicks!” at Intuit Dome, New York cut its deficit from 15 points with a 17-9 run, including six in a row from Brunson, to go into the fourth trailing 88-81.
The Knicks three times closed within five over the final four minutes. But the Clippers controlled the final two minutes, helped by Mathurin’s three-point play and a three-pointer by Derrick Jones Jr.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard celebrates a basket during a win over the Knicks on Monday at Intuit Dome.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Standing third in the Eastern Conference race, the Knicks split the season series with the Clippers, and have not beaten them in Los Angeles since 2022. New York has dropped three of four.
The Clippers opened the game by making four consecutive three-pointers and led most of the first half, which ended in a scoring duel between Leonard and Towns. Leonard scored 10 in a row for the Clippers and Towns had eight straight for the Knicks, who trailed 64-55 at the break.
Up next for the Clippers: vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves at Intuit Dome on Wednesday.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Kawhi Leonard had 28 points, Darius Garland scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and the Clippers held on for a 123-120 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night.
Bennedict Mathurin finished 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Derrick Jones Jr. added 16 points as the Clippers won for the fourth time in five games despite hitting only four three-pointers, a season low.
Ty Jerome led Memphis with 23 points and seven assists. Taylor Hendricks scored 18 and Cedric Coward 15 as Memphis lost its third straight.
The game was close throughout, and the Grizzlies held a 118-117 lead with about two minutes left. Leonard and Jordan Miller each made a pair of free throws to give the Clippers a 121-118 edge. Mathurin’s two free throws with 4.4 seconds left sealed the win as Jerome’s closing three-point try for Memphis was off the mark.
The Clippers, who were 15 games under .500 earlier this season, now sit at 31-32. The are in ninth place in the Western Conference, and in the running for a postseason bid.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies’ season has been marred by injuries. Six rotation players were on the injured list for Saturday’s game, including guard Ja Morant, who missed his 20th game with a left elbow ulnar collateral ligament sprain.
Before the game, Morant said he wanted to remain with the franchise, even referring to a Grizzlies logo tattooed on his back as a sign of his loyalty.
Memphis got off to a fast start building a 19-point lead against the Clippers, playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
The advantage was short-lived. The shooting touch left Memphis, which committed 10 turnovers in the second. Leonard scored 15 points and the Clippers trailed by a point at 59-58 at the break.
The 7-foot Swiss center was injured Wednesday night in a 130-107 win against the Indiana Pacers. Niederhauser was diagnosed with a Lisfranc injury in his right foot and will require surgery, the team said. The injury involves damage to the ligaments or bones in the middle of the foot.
Niederhauser averaged 4.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 41 games. After being selected 30th in last year’s NBA draft, he began the season in the G League, but after the Clippers traded Ivica Zubac last month, he was earning more minutes.
In his last five games, Niederhauser was shooting 52% from the field and averaging 8.2 points and 6.2 rebounds while playing 18 minutes a game.
Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 against the team that traded him last month, and the Clippers won their third in a row, 130-107 over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night at Intuit Dome.
Brook Lopez had 17 points for the Clippers while Darius Garland had 12 in his first home game since being acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers last month. He and Mathurin, who made eight of 11 shots, provided an effective backcourt off the bench, and center Isaiah Jackson added 10 points, four rebounds and three blocks against his old team as well.
The only negative on the night was when rookie center Yanic Konan Niederhauser was helped to the locker room after he suffered a right foot injury. He didn’t return. The Clippers said he’d undergo further evaluation and won’t join them for a two-game trip.
Pascal Siakam had 29 points in his return after sitting out three games because of a left wrist sprain to lead Indiana, but the Pacers lost their seventh in a row and fell to the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 15-47 record.
Jay Huff had 18 points and was four for eight on three-pointers, and Jarace Walker added 17 points.
The Clippers (30-31) led 42-25 after one quarter and 63-51 at halftime, with Leonard racking up 20 points. The Clippers pulled away with a 16-2 run in the third quarter to extend a seven-point lead to 21.
The Clippers shot 55.1% to the Pacers’ 42.9% as L.A. pulled within a game of .500 for the second time since recovering from a 6-21 start. The Clippers play at San Antonio on Friday and at Memphis on Saturday.
Norchad Omier, a 6-foot-7 forward on a two-way contract, became the first Nicaraguan to score in the NBA, according to the Clippers, when he made a late jump hook in the lane.
SAN FRANCISCO — Kawhi Leonard had 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and the Clippers erased a 17-point deficit to beat the shorthanded Golden State Warriors 114-101 on Monday night.
Garland had been nursing a toe injury, then he went down with 1:26 left in the second quarter after a collision with the Warriors’ Moses Moody when they both went for a loose ball and Moody’s right shoulder appeared to get Garland in the face. Both players were shaken but stayed in the game.
Garland’s three-pointer with 3:09 left in the third pulled the Clippers within 75-68, then Kris Dunn had a steal and layup to make it a five-point game. The Clippers were within 79-77 going into the final 12 minutes.
Dunn finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Clippers (29-31), who shot just nine for 31 from three-point range. The Clippers used a 9-4 spurt to start the fourth quarter and go ahead 88-81.
Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski hit eight of his first 12 shots with three three-pointers for his second career 20-point half, but went one for six for two points after the break. Al Horford added 17 points for Golden State, which has lost five of seven and nine of 14.
All-Star guard Stephen Curry was sidelined for an 11th straight game because of a right knee injury, big man Kristaps Porzingis was out for his fifth consecutive contest because of an illness coach Steve Kerr called “mysterious,” and rookie Will Richard was in a walking boot after he sprained his right ankle in Saturday’s blowout home loss to the Lakers. Star forward Jimmy Butler is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Up next for the Clippers: vs. Indiana at Intuit Dome on Wednesday.
Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points, and the Clippers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 137-117 on Sunday night to end a three-game losing streak.
Ninth in the Western Conference, the Clippers improved to 28-31. The Pelicans are 13th in the West at 19-43.
New Orleans star Zion Williamson sat out after injuring his right ankle at Utah on Saturday night. He had played a career-high 35 straight games.
The Clippers never trailed. They led 43-32 after the first quarter and had a 76-70 advantage at the half. It was 107-94 after three, and the Clippers stretched the margin to 26 in the fourth.
Jordan Miller added 19 points for the Clippers. Derrick Jones Jr. had 17, Brook Lopez 16 and John Collins 15.
While Leonard went one for seven from three-point range, the Clippers were 17 for 36 overall. Lopez was four for six, and Jones and Kobe Sanders both were three for four.
Jeremiah Fears led New Orleans with 28 points, hitting five of six three-pointers. Derik Queen scored 19 points, Dejounte Murray had 17, and Trey Murphy III added 16 after missing five games because of a right shoulder injury.
Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night at Intuit Dome.
Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.
Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, shot 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.
Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.
The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.
The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.
The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.
The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.
Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.
Desmond Bane scored 36 points and Paolo Banchero added 16 points and eight assists as the Orlando Magic held on for a 111-109 victory over the Clippers on Sunday night at Intuit Dome.
Wendell Carter Jr. had 15 points and 14 rebounds and Tristan da Silva scored 13 for the Magic, who improved to 5-2 since Feb. 5.
Kawhi Leonard shrugged off an ankle injury to score 37 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 21 points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Clippers, who are 4-5 since Feb. 2. Mathurin missed a three-point attempt to win the game at the buzzer.
Jordan Miller had 14 points for the Clippers (27-30).
Leonard exited Friday’s loss against the Lakers with an ankle sprain. Mathurin was playing in his fifth game for the Clippers after he was acquired at the trade deadline from the Indiana Pacers.
Orlando won despite going eight of 23 from three-point range, two games after setting a franchise record with 27 three-pointers in a victory at Sacramento. Jalen Suggs missed his second consecutive game for the Magic with back spasms.
In a tight game throughout, Leonard gave the Clippers a 107-105 lead with 3:03 remaining on a jumper from the top of the key. The Magic took charge from there as Bane hit a jumper to tie the score and then made a layup with 1:28 left for a 109-107 advantage.
As the Clippers missed four consecutive shots, Orlando went up 111-107 on a fast-break dunk from Banchero with 40 seconds left.
Bane tried to pad the Magic’s lead with eight seconds remaining but had his shot blocked inside by rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser. Mathurin then raced down the floor only to miss a 25-footer as time expired.
They are the core of the Lakers, the engines that make this team go, but health issues have prevented them from playing together for far too much of the 2025-26 campaign.
During their first game since the NBA All-Star break, Doncic, Reaves and James carried the the Lakers to a 125-122 win over the Clippers Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Doncic had 38 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves celebrates after Clippers guard Bennedict Mathurin (9) was called for an offensive foul Friday at Crypto.com Arena.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Reaves had 29 points, six assists and made a big defensive play late in the game.
And James had 13 points and 11 assists, his fifth straight game with 10 or more assists.
Up 118-115 with 1:49 left, Reaves took drew a charge on Bennedict Mathurin, the Clipper’s sixth foul that sent him to the bench with 26 points.
Still, the Lakers didn’t escape until Doncic made two free throws with 21.2 seconds left to give the Lakers a five-point lead that barely stood.
With a 125-122 lead and the ball, James threw a dangerous cross-court pass intended for Doncic that Nicolas Batum instead stole.
But Batum missed a potential game-tying three-pointer and James got the rebound to secure the win.
The Lakers put two defenders on Kawhi Leonard, double teaming the Clippers’ best offensive weapon, keeping a crowd of defenders around him, especially when they employed their zone defense.
Leonard was giving it to the Lakers, but he left late in the fourth quarter with left ankle soreness, departing with 31 points on 11-for-19 shooting.
Lakers coach JJ Redick said pre-game that Leonard is back to being a force on both sides of the basketball.
That’s why so much of the Lakers’ gameplan centered around trying to slow down Leonard, who is eighth in the NBA in scoring (27.8) and tied for first in steals (2.0).
“He’s more consistently taking the tougher assignments right now, and he’s back to being just an elite two-way player on both ends of the floor,” Redick said. “And you know, he’s playing as well as anybody in the NBA right now for the last two months, whatever the starting point would be, but it really is on both sides of the ball.”
Leonard is a primary reason why the Clippers are still rolling despite having traded away two key pieces in guard James Harden and center Ivicia Zubac.
The Clippers started the season 6-21, looking nothing like a playoff team.
But then they beat the Lakers on Dec. 20 and that got the Clippers rolling to a 21-7 stretch entering Friday night’s game, a two-month period that saw them get to one game under .500.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said none of the Clippers ever gave up on the season, adding they were always “playing to win” no matter whether they had “young, old, toddlers” on the court.
“I just feel confident,” Lue said. “I just feel confident in our players, confident in our coaching staff and I just feel confident in the environment and the culture that we’ve set. Why wouldn’t we want to play to win? That’s our mindset. That’s my mindset every single night. As tough as it may be or you start 6-21 whatever it may be, you’re playing to win. So, we make it to the playoffs and anything can happen. So our goal is to make it to the playoffs. I don’t know why somebody would scoff at that.”
The Lakers had just completed practice Thursday with a full and healthy squad when Luka Doncic strolled over to speak with the media.
Doncic had played only five minutes Sunday for Team World in the All-Star Game because of a lingering left hamstring strain. He had missed the previous four Lakers games.
With the Lakers scheduled to start the post-All-Star break against the Clippers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena, Doncic was asked if he was playing in that game.
“Probably,” he said. “We’ll see. I got to talk to people.”
Since Doncic did practice, he was asked how he was doing and how his hamstring felt.
“I’m good,” he said. “Feeling good.”
But, Doncic was told, he did play in the All-Star Game, even if it was limited time.
“Five minutes. I was on minutes restriction,” Doncic joked.
Lakers coach JJ Redick was the first to speak to the media after practice, his time away from the game leaving him fresh and ready to go.
He was asked if Austin Reaves, who had been on a restriction of about 25 minutes after returning from a 19-game because of a left calf strain, would still be on a minutes restriction and if Doncic would be available for the game against the Clippers.
“Austin won’t have a minutes restriction,” Redick said, “and as of 35 to 45 seconds ago, we’ll have everybody available tomorrow.”
Injuries have been a common thread for the Lakers this season.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves sits on the scorer’s table before entering a game against the Mavericks earlier this month. His minutes restriction since returning from a calf injury has been lifted.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
It started at the beginning of the season, when LeBron James missed 14 games because of sciatica. He has recently dealt with left foot arthritis that kept him out of a game.
Center Deandre Ayton missed the last two games with right knee soreness.
“Well, there’s only so much you can control. I mean, you know, as a coach, you have zero control in that. As a player, you know what you do to prepare, and what you do to recover can give you some level of control, but ultimately, the basketball Gods in the game are going to dictate health,” Redick said. “It’s funny, we were talking before the season about building continuity with those three guys, and we’ve had them available together for 10 games. So it’s just the situation we’re in.
“Not the only team that has had a bunch of health issues throughout the season and had to manage that. But I think … my messaging this morning to the players was this is going to be a sprint, these last 28 games. It’s another segment of the season where, starting tomorrow, we won’t have more than a day between games until the end of March. So, we’ve got an opportunity to, I think, play our best basketball after the All-Star break. We’ve got a number of indicators on both sides of the ball that we’re doing some things that are trending in the right direction. And I think it’s coming at a good time, as we’re getting fully healthy.”
Doncic, James and Reaves have played just 10 games together because of health issues.
As a trio, they have combined to average 80.2 points per game, led by Doncic’s NBA-best 32.8 points per game. Reaves is averaging 25.4 points and James 22.0.
Reaves said it is “very important” that the three of them get reps together.
“You have those games from last year, but obviously you still have a learning curve of how to play alongside one another and that’s with everybody else on the team as well,” Reaves said. “Continuing to build that continuity and confidence in every single position. We’re locked in with the five guys on the court. So, very excited.
“I think you can tell throughout the season, even with the unfortunate injuries and stuff, we’ve done a good job of maintaining it. We’re fifth in the West, on pace for a good record and just getting healthy is going to continue to help that. So it’ll be fun to see what that looks like and get to work.”
The Lakers
play four games next week, all against opponents with winning records that are jockeying for position in the playoff race.
So, Thursday’s practice was a good start for the Lakers to get back in gear.
“We only got one practice in so we’re not going to get a lot out of one practice,” Doncic said. “But we definitely like to get up and down a little bit after one week off. So, it was good.”
