James Harden and Kawhi Leonard lead Clippers to victory over Knicks

Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times on Mar 8, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — With players constantly in and out of the lineup, the Los Angeles Clippers are struggling to find consistent success at this stage of the season.

The return of Kawhi Leonard (right knee management) and Derrick Jones Jr. (right groin strain) coupled with the absence of Norman Powell (right hamstring strain) and Ben Simmons (left knee management) on Friday night underlined the scope of the issue.

But the Clippers have been able to count on one thing all season — James Harden‘s high level of play.

Two nights after scoring 50 points, Harden put on another show, finishing with 27 points and seven assists in a 105-95 victory over the New York Knicks at the Intuit Dome.

Harden wasn’t alone in spearheading the win. Leonard had 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 37 minutes, and Ivica Zubac finished with with 16 points and 14 rebounds. The standout center has a career-best 763 rebounds this season.

Nicolas Batum, starting in only his fourth game, had a season-high 17 points, and Bogdan Bogdanovic had a career-high 12 rebounds off the bench.

Jalen Brunson did not play for New York (40-23) because of a right ankle sprain. The All-Star guard, injured in Thursday night’s overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, is seventh in the NBA in scoring (26.3 points per game) and seventh in assists (7.4).

The Clippers (34-29) have won two in a row since dropping six of seven. They are eighth in the Western Conference with 19 games left.

“Just take it day by day,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before the game. “Our shootarounds, our walk-thrus and just taking advantage of those, even though guys can’t go full speed a lot of times. But, like I said, we are behind, and I think the guys are doing the right thing trying to get back, trying to get on the court but also putting the work in trying to understand and learn what we need to do and get better at.”

The Clippers face a critical stretch of games. They play host to Sacramento on Sunday, with the Kings just half a game behind them, before playing New Orleans, Miami and Atlanta on the road.