After recording their most impressive win of the season, the Los Angeles Clippers look to carry the momentum into a matchup against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday in Inglewood, Calif.
Kawhi Leonard scored 32 points and James Harden added 21 to help the Clippers snap a five-game losing streak with a 103-88 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.
The victory was just the seventh in 28 games for the Clippers, who led by as many as 22 points and won for the first time since Dec. 3.
Los Angeles next faces a Houston team that has dropped four of its last six games, including a 125-124 overtime loss to the host Sacramento Kings on Sunday.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue understands his team has an uphill climb to join the playoff race, but he was encouraged by the performance against the Lakers.
“We’ve got to start at one,” Lue said. “We told our guys that (Saturday). I thought we came out with the right intent. Like I said, being up 15 at halftime, I thought we should have been up probably 20 to 25. And that second half, we just didn’t run through the tape. We got to get better with that. But it is a huge win for us.”
Harden recorded his ninth double-double of the season in Saturday’s win with 10 assists. He expressed relief after the Clippers were able to end an eight-game home losing streak.
“Like these last five, six games, I think we’ve been playing well, just haven’t put it together for a full four quarters,” Harden said. “So (Saturday) was kind of just to get the monkey off our back. Now we just have to watch film and figure out what ways we can get better.”
Clippers center Ivica Zubac suffered a Grade 2 left ankle sprain in the victory and will be out for at least three weeks. Zubac’s absence will result in a larger role for forward John Collins, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds against the Lakers.
Zubac scored a game-high 33 points in the Clippers’ 115-113 road loss to Houston on Dec. 11.
The Rockets fell to 1-3 on their six-game road trip with the loss to Sacramento. Alperen Sengun had 28 points and Kevin Durant added 24 points and 10 rebounds for Houston, which led 100-86 early in the fourth quarter.
“When we get up 14, we’ve gotta put our foot on the gas,” Durant said. “We can’t walk the ball up the floor, not do anything on the offensive end, not do anything on the defensive end. We’ve got to dominate when we get up 14.”
Rockets forward Tari Eason returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering an oblique injury Nov. 14 and had 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in 16 minutes.
Houston fell to 1-4 in overtime games this season and was unable to build on a 115-101 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.
“We had a game (Saturday) that we were much more, it felt like motivated for,” Houston coach Ime Udoka said. “Just to let (Sacramento) hang around the way that we did was a lot due to us…I’ve got to do a better job of getting them motivated in games against lesser opponents.”
