WASHINGTON (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points, James Harden added 25 and the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away with a big third quarter to beat the Washington Wizards 125-109 on Wednesday night.
Los Angeles outscored Washington 40-19 in the third after leading by 10 in the first half.
Harden’s pullup 3 from the top of the arc stretched the lead to 20 for the first time with 5:42 left in the period. Later, Leonard’s emphatic dunk off a driving, spinning feed from Russell Westbrook pushed it to 25, and Norman Powell’s basket made it 106-79 at the end of the third.
Leonard and Harden each had nine rebounds. And Harden hit five 3-pointers to help the Clippers snap out of a long-range shooting slump on a night they rested eight-time All-Star Paul George because of groin soreness.
Kyle Kuzma scored 23 of his 27 points in the first half for Washington. The Wizards are 2-2 under interim coach Brian Keefe after Wes Unseld Jr was fired last week.
