Los Angeles Clippers Take Down Portland Trail Blazers In 114-107 Win

The Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers were set for an in-conference matchup on Sunday night. The Clippers are looking to capitalize on a championship window that is closing, as they have multiple aging stars. One of the stars was Kawhi Leonard, who put together a vintage performance tonight in their 114-107 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Clippers Take Care Of Business

The Clippers were able to secure their second straight win of the season behind great performances from their star players. Kawhi Leonard put together a double-double, scoring 30 points and coming down with 10 rebounds. In the first three games of the season, Leonard is averaging 22.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. Having Leonard fully healthy is a huge factor for the Clippers, as they will only go as far as he can take them. James Harden and Ivica Zubac also played great tonight, tailing Leonard’s performance.

James Harden had 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 13 assists. Leonard and Harden both had double-doubles in this game, combining for 50 points. When healthy, these two are among the most fun duos to watch in the entire NBA. Zubac was the second-highest leading scorer in this contest, dropping 21 points. He has been a key part of the Clippers’ success this season, averaging 16 points and 6.7 rebounds thus far. Something that won’t be mentioned from this game is how much the dynamic changed when Zubac and Harden were on the floor. Zubac had a 8 +/- and Harden had a 12 +/-.

The Clippers’ next game will be a divisional matchup with the Golden State Warriors, who are currently in a three-way tie for first place with the Lakers and Clippers.

Trail Blazers Fall Again

The Portland Trail Blazers dropped their second game of the season against Los Angeles. As if there isn’t enough already going on with Portland and the recent gambling scandal surrounding former Head Coach Chauncey Billups, the team struggled in Los Angeles. Shaedon Sharpe struggled from the field, shooting 7-24. The whole team struggled, shooting just 37% from the field and 26.8% from three. No team can win games unless they play clean basketball and force the other team to make an abundant amount of mistakes.

While Los Angeles did commit more turnovers than Portland did, Los Angeles was able to score 30 points off of Portland’s mistakes. The Trail Blazers were only able to score 16 points on the Clippers’ 24 turnovers. They will stay in California a little longer as they’ll try to get back on track against the Los Angeles Lakers tonight.