Leonard drops 36, Clippers prevail over Hawks in high-scoring affair

The LA Clippers have improved to 9-1 over their last 10 after coming out on top of the Atlanta Hawks 149-144 at State Farm Arena behind Kawhi Leonard’s 36.

Leonard finished with a game-high 36 points on 13-of-20 shooting and 5-of-8 from three to continue his strong stretch of play whilst James Harden had himself a night putting up 30 points, eight rebounds, and 10 assists on 6-of-9 from behind the arc.

Paul George added 18 points and five rebounds, Russell Westbrook had 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting off the bench, and Norman Powell had 13 points on 3-of-5 from deep.

The visitors got off to a hot start opening up a lead as high as a dozen in the opening quarter before the Hawks stormed back to tie things up heading into the half.

An extended Hawks sprint – which spanned from the second quarter into the third – saw them outscore the Clippers 58-41 before Ty Lue’s squad put up a 47-point final quarter to storm towards their fourth consecutive win.

Both teams were lights-out from deep – the Clippers hit on 21 of their 35 attempts (60.0 per cent) and the Hawks on 20 of their 39 (51.3 per cent) with LA’s 149 points their second-highest mark of the season.

The Hawks were led by Trae Young (25 points, 12 assists) and De’Andre Hunter (27 points, seven rebounds) whilst Dejounte Murray (21 points, seven assists) and Onyeka Okongwu (18 points, 8-of-10 shooting) also contributed.

The Hawks find themselves back in action in Boston on Thursday whilst the Clippers host the Pelicans the same day.

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