HOUSTON — The Los Angeles Clippers thrived as one of the NBA’s hottest teams since the calendar flipped to 2026. However, some newfound adversity arose this month with trade deadline roster turnover and four losses in a 7-game stretch. That adversity only seemed to balloon on the second leg of a back-to-back in Houston when the Rockets built a 13-point advantage in the late third quarter.
However, the Clippers found the perfect remedy to that situation: Kawhi Leonard.
In the final game before the 7-time All-Star selection represents his hometown at All-Star Weekend, Leonard reminded everyone why he belongs on that stage. Entering the fourth quarter, it was a mundane performance by Kawhi Leonard standards, as he was limited to 8 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
“I didn’t know,” Leonard said of his 3-of-10 start. “That’s the part of it. You gotta keep shooting the basketball no matter what it is, and that’s what I did. I don’t care about makes or misses. I’m gonna try to keep shooting.”
But the fourth quarter was a pure takeover by the All-Star in the midst of a resurgent season. Leonard scored 19 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, and in a tie ballgame with 6.9 seconds remaining, every single soul in the arena knew exactly who the Clippers would rely on for the deciding shot.
“C’mon, that’s Kawhi,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said. “Game on the line, we know where the ball’s going.”
Leonard shed off Amen Thompson, took three dribbles left, and spun right into an elevated midrange jumper. Not only did it sink through the net with 2.0 seconds remaining, but he drew a foul on the play, securing a 105-102 road victory for the Clippers.
“T-Lue gave me the ball at the top of the key,” Leonard recalled. “I tried to get something going left, saw the double team, so I spun and just got to a spot and shot over the top.”
Leonard’s shot was the culmination of a night of resiliency for the Clippers — a microcosm of their season as they transformed a 6-21 start into a 26-28 record entering the All-Star break. LA trailed 76-63 in the late fourth quarter but rattled off a 24-4 run to take command. One prevalent spark during the comeback was Bennedict Mathurin. In his second game with the team, the former Indiana Pacer demonstrated aggressiveness and regularly absorbed contact at the rim, scoring 9 of 16 points from free throws.
“I love his grittiness, his aggressiveness, and he can make plays off the ball,” Clippers point guard Kris Dunn said of his new teammate. “He’s just another player that can really help on both sides of the court and help us get a win.”
One atypical advantage the Clippers were able to exploit was fast break dominance. Ranked fifth-to-last in the league in fast break points per game, LA had zero issue running past the Rockets. The Clippers concocted a 22-2 advantage in the fast break department in Houston, regularly turning deflections into easy points on the other end. John Collins and Kris Dunn spearheaded this effort, and that duo finished with 28 points on a night where the Clippers generated 13 steals.
“That’s just our identity that we’re trying to create here,” Dunn said. “Myself, (Collins), (Derrick Jones Jr.), Benn (Mathurin) did a great job tonight. Kawhi, he’s always there. Brook (Lopez), he’s protecting the rim. And everybody else that comes into the game, that’s the identity we’re trying to create. Once we get stops, let’s get out and run.”
The Clippers overcame a scalding Reed Sheppard, who chipped in 17 points (14 in the first half) on 5-of-10 shooting from the perimeter for the Rockets. With Sheppard taking control in the second quarter, LA trailed by as many as 15 in the first half. Even though the Rockets shot 56.4 percent in the first half, Lue was still reassured by his team’s defensive effort given the constant deflections and chaos manufactured.
“We turned them over 21 times, so when they got shots up they scored,” Lue said. “But we were able to blitz and cause chaos, and we were able to shoot the gap for steals, turn them over and get out in transition. That’s what helped us out.”
The Clippers responded with a promising offensive stretch to open the third quarter. Two Dunn 3-pointers, a pair of Kawhi Leonard free throws, and a Collins poster dunk sparked a 10-0 run for the visitors, slicing the deficit to 64-61 at the 6:34 mark of the period. The Rockets wasted no time in regaining rhythm as Kevin Durant and Sheppard each drilled threes to capture a 76-63 advantage. But in the end, the Leonard fourth quarter takeover proved too lethal for Houston to overcome.
“It was a total team effort,” Lue said. “I just thought we got down 13 and guys kept fighting, kept competing, and kept scrapping. That’s what we gotta be every night. We’re not gonna make shots every night, but we can play hard and compete and that’s what our guys did tonight. I’m very proud of them.”
The Clippers (26-28) haven’t lost consecutive road games since Dec. 11 and 18 after claiming the second leg of the Houston double-header. They now fly back to Los Angeles to host All-Star Weekend as the 9-seed in the West, fully alive for a playoff run with 28 games remaining.
“Every win is important for us whoever we’re playing, because of the seed we’re in right now,” Leonard said. “We’ve got to move up in the rankings, try to get out of the Play-In. That’s our season for us.”