INGLEWOOD — This was supposed to be the hard part and perhaps at some point, it will be. But moving above the .500 mark took just one game and another spectacular night from star Kawhi Leonard as they continue to salvage a season that looked lost not that long ago.
The Clippers won their third consecutive game and their sixth in the past seven on Wednesday night, posting a season-high point total in a 153-126 beatdown of the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Intuit Dome.
Leonard scored a game-high 45 points on 15-of-20 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 from 3-point range and had five rebounds and five assists as the Clippers improved to 33-32 and become the first team in NBA history to move above .500 after being 15 games below .500 in the same season.
It was Leonard’s fifth 40-point game this season, joining Bob McAdoo and World B. Free as the only players in franchise history to have at least five such games in a single season.
“To be 6-21 and now be 32-32, that’s remarkable,” veteran forward Nicolas Batum said before the game. “But like I say, it’s just one step, a first step.”
The 27-point victory was another step in the Clippers’ quest to improve their position among the likely Play-In Tournament participants. They are eighth in the Western Conference standings with 17 regular-season games left, one game ahead of ninth-place Golden State but still five games behind seventh-place Phoenix.
“I mean, it’s cool, but we were not supposed to be there at that spot. We were supposed to get 32 wins a long time ago, but where we are right now, we came from a long way,” Batum said. “We still have a long way to go, so just keep the same focus, maybe more.”
The Clippers came out at the start focused on nothing more than stacking another win. They are 27-11 since Dec. 20 and have won six of their past seven, with new additions Darius Garland and Bennedict Mathurin continuing to make an impact.
Garland finished with 21 points and six assists, while Mathurin had 22 points and three assists. Jordan Miller added 14 points and seven assists, while Derrick Jones Jr. contributed 12 points and four steals.
“Their defense is what’s really turned things around here more than anything else,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of the Clippers’ resurgence.
The Clippers’ defense, led by veteran guard Kris Dunn, helped them open a 16-point lead in the first quarter. Dunn stole the ball three times and Minnesota had seven turnovers in the first 12 minutes and 15 by halftime.
While the defense was wreaking havoc, the Clippers’ offense ran circles around the Timberwolves. Their frenetic passing and Leonard’s ability to convert those passes gave the Clippers their biggest lead (32-16) en route to a 38-27 advantage after one quarter.
Leonard had 18 points in the first quarter and 28 by halftime, not wasting any time posting his 43rd straight game with at least 20 points, the second-longest active streak in the NBA.
The Timberwolves, led by star guard Anthony Edwards, eventually settled down and went on a 10-1 run to begin the second quarter and pull within 39-36.
But foul trouble put the Clippers in the bonus at the 8:44 mark and they made 16 of 18 free throws the rest of the quarter to push their lead back to double figures before ending the half with a 72-65 advantage.
Edwards finished with 36 points on 11-of-17 shooting (3 for 8 from 3-point range) and an 11-of-12 effort from the free-throw line.
_More to come on this story._