Category: Basketball

The Clippers are trending in the right direction, and on top of it, they are becoming whole with leading scorer Norman Powell back and with James Harden sustaining his high level of play.

They've won six of their last seven games, with the Clippers’ 123-88 blowout win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday at the Intuit Dome pushing their winning streak to three.

“This was a good professional win,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.

For Lue, the shift began with the Clippers playing defense at a higher level while not forcing the action.

Read more:Clippers' strong third quarter leads to blowout of the Hawks

Before the game, Lue talked about how Harden has been a consistent force, something the All-Star proved against Charlotte with 31 points on nine-for-15 shooting. He also made four of seven three-point attempts, 10 rebounds and seven assists in just 31 minutes.

"We pretty much need to win these games,” Kawhi Leonard said after finishing with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes. “Obviously James has been playing at a great level. ... It’s just been a collective group [effort].”

Lue said the Clippers are comfortable playing through Leonard and Ivica Zubac more frequently. Zubac finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high eight assists in 28 minutes.

“It’s been great,” Leonard said about Zubac’s play, especially the center’s passing ability. “Like I said, if the other team is switching or if we need a basket, he’s able to relieve us and with his efficiency. The other team is seeing that and bringing two guys to him and he’s making the right play.”

In addition, Lue has integrated Bogdan Bogdanovic (seven points, four rebounds) and Ben Simmons (three assists, zero points) more into the fold. It has all added up to the Clippers playing with greater purpose.

“Just trying to fit all these pieces together,” Lue said. “We have [14] games to do it, which is more than enough time if we just lock in and understand what we’re trying to do. So I’m excited about that challenge.”

One player who struggled to put the pieces together Sunday was Powell. After missing 12 of the last 13 games because of knee issues and a right hamstring strain, he scored just seven points on three-for-13 shooting.

The next seven days will provide the Clippers with tougher challenges.

They face Cleveland, Memphis and Oklahoma City next. The Cavaliers have the best record in the NBA, the Thunder the second best and the Grizzlies are fourth in the Western Conference.

Read more:Kawhi Leonard's spectacular buzzer-beater lifts Clippers to OT win over Kings

But because the Clippers have found their groove — like when they built a 38-point lead against Charlotte — they are more prepared for the task ahead as they try to climb out of the No. 8 spot in the West.

“Getting guys back healthy, playing together, trusting each other, playing better defense than when we played in a stretch before that,” Zubac said about the Clippers' improved play. “And, that’s it. We’re kind of figuring it out. Defensively we’re better and we’re slowly getting guys back. ... We got a good squad when we’re healthy. So, just keep building, keep building. We’re in a final stretch of the season and we got to get as many wins as we can and everyone [has] got to be locked in.”

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The Orlando Magic fought back to upset the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-103 and end the Cavs' 16-game winning streak.

Orlando recovered from a 13-point half-time deficit to win, with Paolo Banchero scoring 24 points and Franz Wagner adding 22.

Cleveland have already secured a spot in the end-of-season play-offs and remain well placed to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers ended their four-game losing run with a 107-96 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

LeBron James missed the game with a groin injury, but Luka Doncic was fit enough to play and was the Lakers' leading scorer with 33 points.

Elsewhere, Quentin Grimes scored 28 points against his former team as the Philadelphia 76ers overcame the Dallas Mavericks 130-125.

Western Conference leaders the Oklahoma City Thunder recorded a 121-105 win over the Milwaukee Bucks to improve their record to 56 wins and just 12 losses, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 31 points and eight assists.

Anthony Edwards scored 41 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves extended their winning streak to eight matches by beating the Utah Jazz 128-102.

The Portland Trailblazers fought back from a 16-point deficit to end a five-match losing run in a 105-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

James Harden scored 31 points for the LA Clippers in a 123-88 win against the Charlotte Hornets, while Cameron Johnson's 28 points helped the Brooklyn Nets defeat the Atlanta Hawks 122-114.

Dorian Finney-Smith hobbled around, the ankle problems that kept him off the court in the Lakers’ losses to Brooklyn and Denver, obvious. Still, he fought with Kevin Durant and helped push the Phoenix star into missing eight of his first nine shots.

In the second half, Finney-Smith would hit two big threes and have a key offensive rebound.

Jordan Goodwin hadn’t started consecutive games this season, nevertheless consecutive games for a team with NBA title hopes, and here he was Sunday, harassing Devin Booker. He opened the game with a tip-in and finished it by extending a possession with another hustle play.

Read more:'They told me to go play, so I go play.' Austin Reaves can carry the Lakers when asked

“Never judge a player by his box score,” JJ Redick said of Goodwin, who had just two points and four fouls.

And Jaxson Hayes, a former lottery pick given up on by the team that drafted him and by most of the league, feasted at the rim and ran in and out of defensive switches, the Lakers quickly reestablishing their defensive intensity after a four-game road trip where they never totally made it off the plane.

“We knew we had to be better,” Luka Doncic said.

Even though they didn’t have LeBron James and Rui Hachimura in their starting lineup, Hayes’ return and Finney-Smith's and Goodwin’s defense made the Lakers look more like the team that had won eight straight and not the one that just dropped four in a row on the road.

Playing their first of five home games this week, the Lakers recaptured their identity largely thanks to their role players, the team clamping down on the Suns during a 107-96 win.

None of this is to say the Lakers’ healthy stars weren’t terrific — they were.

One game after he nearly willed the Lakers to a win in Denver, Austin Reaves scored 28 to go with six assists and four rebounds. He hit a three over rookie Oso Ighodaro and drew a foul, Durant slumping back into his seat on the Suns’ bench. He drove past Booker, absorbed the contact and scored, flexing at the Lakers’ bench.

And Doncic, who didn’t play in Denver on the second night of a back-to-back set, scored 33 points to go with 11 rebounds and eight assists — his fifth game in the past six where he scored at least 30.

“Getting there,” Doncic said, “but every day I’m feeling better.”

The Lakers play again Monday night against San Antonio.

James, who has missed the past four games, did an on-court workout Sunday but he’s still unlikely to return for a little bit despite being called “day to day.” The expectation is the Lakers will be conservative with his recovery from a strained groin while he ramps up to a return.

Without him, the Lakers have their formula — a formula that requires Hayes back on the court and the team playing with the right spirit.

Healthy or not, that’s who the Lakers need to be — even if the odds were stacked against them. They’d just been on a road trip, they’d just suffered a brutal loss in Denver on Friday and they needed to be at their home arena first thing Sunday to play the Suns.

And they were the team that played hard.

“That to me, that says everything about our group,” Redick said proudly.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.