Brook Lopez’s 9 treys power Clippers to win over Blazers
Brook Lopez sank a career-high nine 3-pointers and scored a season-best 31 points to spark the Los Angeles Clippers to a 119-103 victory over the host Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.
James Harden scored a game-high 34 points and dished out six assists as the struggling Clippers notched their first three-game winning streak of the season. Los Angeles has won just nine of 30 games.
Kawhi Leonard scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half and collected eight rebounds and six assists as the Clippers defeated Portland for the second time this season and the 20th time in the past 22 meetings. Leonard has scored 20 or more points in each of his past 12 appearances.
Deni Avdija recorded 29 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for the Trail Blazers, who were outscored by 22 points in the second half en route to their third straight setback.
Toumani Camara made five treys and scored 20 points and Shaedon Sharpe added 16 points for Portland. Caleb Love had 14 points off the bench, and Donovan Clingan added 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Clippers shot 50.7% from the field, including 20 of 40 from 3-point range.
Los Angeles never led during the first 32-plus minutes and trailed 72-62 in the third quarter before ripping off 16 consecutive points.
Lopez knocked down three treys during the charge, including one to give the Clippers their first lead with 3:23 left in the period. He then knocked down another one 28 seconds later to end the spurt and give Los Angeles a 78-72 advantage.
Harden converted a four-point play to give Los Angeles an eight-point lead with 1:06 left in the third. The Clippers took an 85-78 advantage into the final quarter.
Six straight points -- Jordan Miller's 3-pointer and three free throws by Leonard -- pushed Los Angeles' lead to 101-88 with 8:19 remaining.
Leonard drilled a 3-pointer to make it 113-99 with 1:35 left, and the Clippers closed it out.
Portland made 45% of its shots and went 16 of 39 (41%) from behind the arc.
Avdija scored 17 first-half points as Portland led 62-56 at the break. Lopez had 19 in the half for Los Angeles.
The Trail Blazers led by as many as 12 in the opening period before Lopez scored 11 points in the second quarter, sinking three 3-pointers, to get the Clippers back into the game.