tuesday night

Kawhi Leonard scored 45 points and the Clippers routed the Minnesota Timberwolves 153-128 on Wednesday night, moving above .500 with their third straight victory and sixth in seven games.

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.

BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.

Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.

It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.

In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.

Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.

Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.

After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.

HOUSTON — Kevin Durant scored 26 points and Alperen Sengun added 22 to help the Houston Rockets to a 102-95 victory over the Clippers on Tuesday night.

Bennedict Mathurin had nine points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes in his first game for the Clippers since being traded from Indiana last week. Darius Garland, acquired in the trade that sent James Harden to Cleveland, remains out with a toe injury.

Houston led by six points at the start the fourth period and scored the first seven points of the quarter to extend its lead to 85-72 with 10 ½ minutes remaining. Kawhi Leonard made two free throws, but the Rockets scored the next four points to extend the lead.

The Rockets were up by 12 later in the fourth when Durant stole the ball from Brook Lopez, and Reed Sheppard made an off-balance three-pointer to make it 92-77 with about 6 ½ minutes to go.

Houston remained up by 15 about a minute later when Clippers coach Tyronn Lue cleared his bench.

Leonard led the Clippers (25-28) with 24 points after scoring 41 in a blowout win in December in the last meeting between the teams. The Clippers made 20 three-pointers in that 128-108 victory, but were just eight for 30 from long range on Tuesday.

Jabari Smith Jr. had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Amen Thompson added 16 points for the Rockets in his return after sitting out of Saturday’s win over Oklahoma City because of an illness.

A three-pointer by Jordan Miller cut the lead to two points late in the third before Sengun scored the last two baskets of the quarter to put the Rockets up 78-72 entering the fourth.