Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points, four teammates scored in double figures and the Los Angeles Clippers ended a three-game losing streak by defeating the visiting New Orleans Pelicans 137-117 on Sunday night.
Jordan Miller added 19 points, Derrick Jones Jr. scored 17, Brook Lopez had 16 and John Collins (head) returned from a two-game absence to score 15.
Rookie Jeremiah Fears came off the bench to score a season-high 28, rookie Derik Queen added 19 off the bench, Dejounte Murray scored 17, Trey Murphy III returned from a five-game absence due to a right shoulder contusion to add 16 and Saddiq Bey had 14 to lead the Pelicans, who had won four straight games.
Zion Williamson saw his career-best 35-game playing streak end because of an ankle injury sustained a night earlier in a 115-105 victory at Utah.
New Orleans was completing a back-to-back and a stretch of three games in four days to start a six-game road trip.
The Pelicans trailed by as many as 18 points during the first half and by six at halftime, but closed within 85-84 midway through the third quarter. The Clippers went on an 18-4 run to rebuild the lead to 15 before holding a 107-94 lead at the end of the third quarter.
New Orleans scored the first two points of the fourth quarter, but L.A. quickly expanded the lead to 16 points and maintained a comfortable margin the rest of the way.
The Clippers scored the first six points of the game and raced to a 32-15 lead in less than nine minutes. They wound up shooting 60 percent (15 of 25) from the floor in the quarter though New Orleans crept within 43-32 at the end of the period.
L.A. expanded the lead to 18 early in the second quarter before Murray’s dunk pulled the Pelicans within 52-43. The Clippers rebuilt the lead to 18, but New Orleans scored the final nine points of the quarter to get within 76-70 at halftime.
