Kawhi Leonard leads Clippers to a dominant win over the Pelicans amid playoff push

Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times on Apr 3, 2025

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The teams the Clippers are chasing for a top-six spot in the Western Conference standings keep winning and that means the Clippers have to continue their pursuit of wins until the final seedings are decided.

His team understands “what’s at stake” and “what’s at risk,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said, and that has kept his group on high alert as it seeks to avoid the NBA’s play-in tournament by earning a top-six seed.

As it now stands, even after the Clippers defeated the depleted New Orleans Pelicans 114-98 Wednesday night at Inuit Dome, the Clippers remain a play-in team.

The Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies all have identical records at 44-32, all of them a half-game behind the fifth-seeded Golden State Warriors.

With six regular-season games left, Lue said the Clippers want to play their best basketball of the season, hunt for a top-six position and stay healthy.

“Health is important,” Lue said. “But like you said, trying to get the top-six seed is very important as well, because you don’t want to go into the play-in game because in one or two games anything can happen. So, that’s been our focus and our mindset and I give our guys credit. They’ve been doing a good job with that.”

The Clippers earned Wednesday’s win with a balanced attack, including six players scoring in double-figures. The team also got strong performances from Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.

Leonard was efficient, scoring 28 points, shooting 11-for-18 from the field and three-for-five from three-point range.

Harden had a double-double with 21 points and 10 assists. After going one-for-five from three-point range, Harden has now made 404 three pointers as a Clipper, pushing him past Erick Gordon for sole possession of 10th place on the Clippers’ all-time three-point field goal list.

Ivica Zubac had 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists and Bogdan Bogdanovic had 16 points off the bench.

The Clippers won for the ninth time in their last 10 games, but it wasn’t easy at times.

New Orleans just shut down Zion Williamson (bone bruise in his back) and CJ McCollum (bone bruise in his right foot), and other players missed the game.

But the Pelicans didn’t just roll over, forcing the Clippers to stay alert.

It took a three-pointer from Bogdanovic, an offensive rebound and put-back along with two free throws from Zubac and a three pointer from Leonard for the Clippers to open a 20-point lead late in the fourth quarter.