INGLEWOOD — Beating the short-handed Lakers and the mediocre Portland Trail Blazers were one thing. Earning a victory against a solid Houston Rockets team was a legitimate victory, but this?
The Clippers dominated the Detroit Pistons, the best team in the Eastern Conference, in an improbable 112-99 victory on Sunday at the Intuit Dome to extend their winning streak to four games.
The Clippers notched their 10th victory of the season behind the stunning performance of Kawhi Leonard.
From the start, it was obvious that Leonard wasn’t going to let the Clippers lose the momentum they started building eight days ago.
The two-time NBA champion scored a career-high 55 points on 17-of-26 shooting, his 10th career 40-point game and seventh in a Clippers uniform. He also set a franchise record for consecutive made free throws with 68, surpassing Jamal Crawford’s 58. He missed the second of two foul shots in the third quarter to end his streak.
Leonard is also the third player in NBA history to have at least 55 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and three blocked shots in a single game. The last player to achieve that feat was James Harden in 2019.
Two weeks ago, the prospect of winning 10 games seemed impossible. The Clippers (10-21) routinely had blown second-half leads or struggled to put together successive quarters as their loss total topped 20. Something about this game against the Pistons (24-8) felt different, though.
The Clippers attacked from the start, led by as many as 24, and repeatedly doused a late run by the Pistons in the first of five consecutive home games.
The Clippers led 92-69 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Pistons went on an 8-3 run to cut into the lead, 95-77, but it didn’t last. Brook Lopez buried a 3-pointer, and the rest of the team took it from there.
James Harden finished with 28 points, four rebounds and seven assists and Nicolas Batum added 12 points on 4-of-8 3-pointers. Derrick Jones Jr. scored three points and had three rebounds in his return to the lineup after missing the past six weeks because of a torn MCL.
The Clippers came out attacking the Pistons, limiting them to 38.1% shooting in the first half, and building a 60-42 halftime lead. It was the kind of play that was key last season in establishing themselves as defensive juggernauts, ranking among the top five in the league.
This season, the Clippers have played passively, building leads but then giving them away as teams averaged 115.3 points against them, which puts them 15th in the league.
But they have shown improvement and allowed 99.7 points during their three-game winning streak.
“It’s been our point of attack defense,” Lue said about what has made the difference lately. “I thought we’ve done a great job, a better job with our guards getting to the ball, not leaving our bigs on the island.
“Our bigs also have done a better job of being up more to start … just trying to take up more of that space and they’ve done a good job with that.”
The Pistons, who were looking to get back on track after losing to the Utah Jazz on Friday, were led by Cade Cunningham’s 27 points. Jalen Durin added 18 points and had 14 rebounds.
Lue said before the game, it was important to take Cunningham out of his comfort zone and the Clippers did that for much of the first half. He missed all four shot attempts in the first half, had just two rebounds and three assists and played just 11 minutes in the first half after picking up his third foul.
“You can’t give him a steady look of the same thing because he’ll pick you apart,” Lue said. “So, we got to be willing to change and give him different looks to try to keep him off balance.”
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