James Harden turned back the clock to his Houston Rockets days, putting up a double-double, with 31 points with 10 boards and Kawhi Leonard added 23 points as the Los Angeles Clippers continued their heater in March with a 123-88 slaughtering over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday in Inglewood, California.
Big man Ivica Zubac did a little bit everything, with 17 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high eight assists as the Clippers (38-30) were victorious for the sixth time in their last seven games, while extending their winning streak over the Hornets (17-50) to 14 games. They have been dominate at home against the Hornets, also a 15-game winning streak dating back to 2010.
Derrick Jones Jr. scored 12 points for the Clippers, while Harden added seven helpers
After being sidelined 12 of the previous 13 games due to multiple injuries, most recently a hamstring issue, the Clippers leading scorer Norman Powell struggled to find his rhythm in his return with seven points on 3-of-13 from the field.
Mark Williams filled up the stat sheet scoring 18 points with 15 rebounds and seven assists, as the Hornets lost in a makeup game originally scheduled for January 11 but was postponed because of deadly wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
LaMelo Ball scored 16 points for Charlotte, which concluded a 2-2 road trip. The Hornets had won three of their last four games on the heels of a nine-game losing streak.
The game was knotted with five minutes remaining in the opening quarter before the Clippers took over with a 13-3 run for a 10-point advantage, 26-16. Los Angeles led by 11, 32-21 after one quarter.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Clippers dominated the second quarter as well and took a commanding 24-point lead, 65-41, into the locker room by shooting a red-hot 52.2 percent from the floor and going 6 of 10 from beyond the arc.
They picked up right where they left off in the third quarter when Clippers outscored the Hornets 30-21 and ballooned the lead to 95-62.
The Clippers shot 48.4 percent in the game and went 13 of 26 from downtown, while the Hornets shot 39.4 percent overall and came back down to earth shooting 6 of 33 from 3-point range, after knocking down a franchise-high 26 just two day earlier against the San Antonio Spurs. Ball, a Los Angeles-area native, did not have his best homecoming and was 5 of 18 from the floor and 2 of 8 from 3-point range.
Powell played just shy of 23 minutes in his second game since February 13. He missed five games with knee tendonitis and the previous seven with a hamstring strain.
Charlotte hosts Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.
The Clippers host Darius Garland and the league-leading Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
