Leonard, Harden help Clippers pull away from Wizards, 125-109

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 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.

Los Angeles was 12 of 30 from 3-pooint range after three straight games hitting under 33%. The Clippers were 12 of 25 before removing their starters. They are 3-1 on seven-game trip.

Kyle Kuzma scored 23 of his 27 points the first half for Washington. The Wizards are 2-2 under interim coach Brian Keefe after Wes Unseld Jr. was fired last week.

Rookie and Bilal Coulibaly scored 19 points in his second career start and first since Oct. 30. He replaced shooting guard Jordan Poole (illness) in the lineup.

UP NEXT

Clippers: At Detroit on Friday night.

Wizards: Host Miami on Friday night.

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