INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Close to grabbing a franchise record all for himself, Kawhi Leonard elected to take a pass in order to be fresh for another day.
Team-oriented to the core, Leonard was actually a bit selfish by request Sunday, scoring a career-high 55 points to lift the Los Angeles Clippers to a 112-99 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons.
The Clippers are now on a season-best four-game winning streak and a recent scoring burst from Leonard is the primary reason.
Leonard was told by head coach Tyronn Lue he was closing in on the franchise scoring record but decided to keep his fourth-quarter floor time to a modest six minutes and departed with just under a minute remaining.
He now shares the team mark for points in a game with teammate James Harden.
“Like I told (Lue), I would rather play another game than go out there and risk it,” Leonard said. “Hopefully we can get another win and be in the same situation. It is what it is.”
Harden teased Leonard afterward that it took him long enough to pull off a 50-point game, while also shouting “double nickels,” in the locker room afterward. Leonard is in his 14th season.
“It was a beautiful thing to see how efficient, how effortless it was,” Harden said. “It was just so smooth. He got to whatever spot he wanted to and once you get to that spot it’s not even about the defender. It’s about him making the shot.
“Overly happy for him because behind the scenes you watch somebody and how hard they work. ... For him, what he had to battle through just to go out there and be himself was a beautiful thing to see.”
Slowed by knee injuries in recent years, Leonard missed 10 games earlier this season with ankle and foot issues. He finally reached 40 minutes in a game during a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers last week that started the winning streak. He did it again in a victory Friday.
He went 17 of 26 from the floor against the Pistons and 16 of 17 from the free-throw line while playing 39 minutes.
“He’s finally getting healthy and finally being able to play enough minutes to be very effective,” Lue said. “When he’s healthy, he’s one of the top guys in the league. We’ve been able to see that of late.”
With a 41-point game Tuesday against the Houston Rockets, Leonard is the second player in franchise history to score at least 40 points in back-to-back home games along with Bob McAdoo.
Leonard scored 26 points in the third quarter alone Sunday, but he also missed his lone free throw of the night in the period. It not only was the point he needed to set the franchise scoring record, the miss ended his franchise-record run at 64 consecutive made free throws.
“I’ve never really kind of been in this situation,” said Leonard, who is averaging 39.0 points over the last four games. “I’m more trying to get guys the ball and sharing it more than what I have been doing. But the coaches need me to be aggressive the entire game.
“It’s just a different evolution of me trying to shoot more 3s and trying to evolve my game to today’s game.”
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