![\"Los](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/260101_005_jazz-_at_clippers-544x306.jpg\" "\\"Los")
<\/p>\nINGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 By the time Kawhi Leonard scored his last layup in the final two minutes, the outcome felt inevitable.<\/p>\n
Leonard poured in 45 points on New Year\u2019s Day, lifting the Los Angeles Clippers to a 118\u2013101 win over the Utah Jazz and their sixth straight victory. It was another reminder that when Leonard looks like this, the Clippers look like a problem.<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t just a big night. It was a statement stretch.<\/p>\n
Leonard has now scored 40-plus points three times in the last five games and for the 11th time in his career \u2014 his eighth as a Clipper. That ties him with Blake Griffin for the third-most 40-point games in franchise history. Even rarer territory? Leonard joined Paul George as the only players in team history to record multiple regular-season games with 45+ points, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ made threes.<\/p>\n
The Clippers are 6\u20130 during Leonard\u2019s scorching run, and the numbers read as something pulled straight from a video game:<\/p>\n
45 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL<\/p>\n
33 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 3 STL<\/p>\n
55 PTS, 11 REB, 2 AST, 5 STL<\/p>\n
28 PTS, 8 REB, 6 AST, 3 STL<\/p>\n
41 PTS, 8 REB, 5 AST, 4 3PM<\/p>\n
32 PTS, 12 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a hot streak. That\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n
The Clippers set the tone early, ripping off a 16\u20130 run to open the game before Jazz forward Cody Williams finally broke the seal with a dunk at the 7:05 mark of the first quarter. Defense fueled everything early \u2014 deflections, contested shots, controlled chaos.<\/p>\n
The second quarter flipped the script as Utah outscored L.A. 33\u201322, trimming what was once a 21-point Clippers lead down to a slim 53\u201350 halftime advantage. The offense stalled, the defense softened, and suddenly the Jazz had life.<\/p>\n
It stayed uncomfortable into the third.<\/p>\n
Brook Lopez, who couldn\u2019t buy a basket in the first half (0-for-8 from three), opened the second half by finally knocking one down \u2014 his first make after nine straight misses. The Clippers\u2019 lead was down to 58\u201355 with just over 10 minutes left in the third, and the building felt tense.<\/p>\n
Then Leonard decided it was time.<\/p>\n
Leonard owned the fourth quarter. Four triples. A breakaway dunk. Cold-blooded shot-making that slammed the door shut. His personal run pushed the Clippers to a 107\u201394 lead with under six minutes to play and completely flipped the momentum of a game that was dangerously close to slipping away.<\/p>\n
That stretch was the turning point \u2014 the moment Leonard reminded everyone why he\u2019s still one of the league\u2019s most feared closers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Robert Talamantes – The Sporting Tribune<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Clippers Guard James Harden (1) attacks the rim of three defenders and scores during an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Thursday January 1st, 2026 in Inglewood, California.<\/p>\n
James Harden played the perfect sidekick, finishing with 20 points, seven assists, and three rebounds in just 29 minutes. The Clippers\u2019 bench delivered timely contributions as well, scoring 40 points. Nicolas Batum led the way with 14 points, drilling four of his six attempts from deep, while Kobe Sanders and Derrick Jones Jr. chipped in 10 points apiece.<\/p>\n
The Clippers didn\u2019t shoot the ball well overall \u2014 16-for-51 from three (31.4%) \u2014 but they survived thanks to perimeter defense, holding Utah to just 6-of-27 from deep. It wasn\u2019t pretty, but it was effective.<\/p>\n
Utah got strong bench production, led by Kyle Anderson\u2019s 22 points in 32 minutes and 18 from Cody Williams, but it wasn\u2019t enough. Even with a 51\u201340 advantage in bench scoring, the Jazz couldn\u2019t match Leonard\u2019s firepower.<\/p>\n
The win moves the Clippers to 8\u20138 at home, with two games remaining on the current homestand. Next up? A heavyweight test against the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
If Leonard keeps playing like this, though, the Clippers won\u2019t be ducking anyone. They\u2019ll be daring the league to stop them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, Calif. \u2014 By the time Kawhi Leonard scored his last layup in the final two minutes, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,369,559,560,6971,529,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,67,4536,10948],"class_list":{"0":"post-511768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brook-lopez","10":"tag-clippers","11":"tag-james-harden","12":"tag-john-collins","13":"tag-kawhi-leonard","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-clippers","16":"tag-laclippers","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","19":"tag-losangeles","20":"tag-losangelesclippers","21":"tag-nba","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-tst-los-angeles","24":"tag-yanic-konan-niederhauser"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115825634744682273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}