Clippers put away Wizards early in blowout win

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - One night after having multiple players out, the Clippers got almost all of their reinforcements back into the rotation, and pulled away early to win 110-93 against the Washington Wizards. 

Norm Powell returned with a team-high 22 points on 9-18 shooting, and every starter was in double figures. 

Derrick Jones Jr. followed up his career high performance on Wednesday against the Celtics with 19 points on an efficient 7-10 from the field. Jones Jr. is looking more and more comfortable as the season goes on and now that he is in the starting lineup, that group is looking complete. 

Kawhi Leonard also returned to the lineup but struggled shooting, going 7-16 from the field and just 1-5 from 3-point range. 

Amir Coffey had 10 points off the bench and Mo Bamba got into the scoring act with 13 of his own, going a perfect 3-3 from the 3-point line. 

While the offense did enough to win, it was James Harden that had the all-around game. Harden had a 17 point, 13 assist, 12 rebound triple double, the fifth of his tenure as a Clipper and the 4th-most in franchise history. 

He also passed Wilt Chamberlain for 8th on the all-time triple-double list with his 79th of his career. 

While the Clippers did get out to a big lead, the second half was forgettable. The lead got down to 12 in the 4th quarter with some sloppy turnovers, missed shots and lazy ball-handling. The Clippers had 18 turnovers as a team and Ty Lue was not happy postgame, saying, “not a good game for us…last night I thought we played better.” 

The team did show more effort, fight, and energy in the overtime loss against the Celtics, but a win is a win, and this Clipper team needs as many as they can get with this stacked schedule. 

The homestand ends with the Milwaukee Bucks coming into Intuit Dome on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 PM PST.