Clippers jump out to big lead, hold Raptors at bay

Kawhi Leonard, Darius Garland and Bennedict Mathurin combined for 74 points as the Los Angeles Clippers routed the visiting Toronto Raptors 119-94 on Wednesday.

Los Angeles (37-36) led nearly wire-to-wire on the way to their third consecutive win, pouncing on Toronto in the first quarter and never looking back.

The Clippers built a 14-point lead by the end of the first quarter behind a hot start from Brook Lopez. The veteran center scored 11 of his 14 points in the opening period.

The Los Angeles bench joined in to contribute to the early-game deluge. Reserves Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson and Nicolas Batum combined to score the last 13 of the Clippers' first-quarter points, setting the tone for 52 points from the bench.

Mathurin's 23 led the second unit. Jackson added 12.

Toronto (40-32), closing out a 2-3 road swing, could not close the gap to within a single-digit-point margin, shooting just 40 of 96 from the floor. Brandon Ingram, who scored a team-high 18 points, and Jakob Poeltl, who finished with 10 points, shot 8 of 18 and 5 of 9 from the floor, respectively.

They were the only Raptors starters to connect at better than a 33% clip. RJ Barrett finished with 12 points, shooting just 5 of 19 from the floor, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range.

Toronto's 10-of-29 3-point shooting -- compared to the Clippers' 16 of 35 -- helped make the difference. Garland sank a game-high five 3-pointers on nine attempts on his way to 24 points.

Garland added six assists and four rebounds.

Leonard led all scorers with 27 points. He connected on a mid-range 2-pointer and a 3-pointer to bookend a Lopez 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, part of a 14-2 run that effectively slammed the door on Toronto's last-gasp rally effort.

Lopez added five rebounds and anchored the Los Angeles defensive effort with five blocked shots and a pair of steals.