Kawhi Leonard scored 26 points and John Collins added 25 as the Los Angeles Clippers rolled past the Sacramento Kings 138-109 on Sunday night at Golden 1 Center.
The win snapped a two-game skid for Los Angeles and pushed the Clippers into a tie for eighth place in the Western Conference with Portland at 40-38. With four games left, that positioning matters because the eighth seed gets two chances to reach the playoffs through the play-in tournament.
Leonard set the tone immediately. He scored 13 points in the first quarter as the Clippers built a double-digit lead and never let Sacramento back into the game.
The Clippers shot 53% from the field and 49% from three-point range, making 20 of 41 attempts from deep. Darius Garland added 17 points and six assists, while Kobe Sanders scored 17 off the bench to keep the pressure on the Kings’ rotation.
Collins was efficient and active on both ends, finishing with 25 points on 9-for-20 shooting. He also added four rebounds, two assists and two steals, giving Los Angeles the kind of two-way production it needed to control the pace.
Sacramento entered the night playing for pride in a lost season and stayed there after the loss. The Kings fell to 21-58, tied with Utah for the fourth-worst record in the league, and are now tied for the third-most losses in franchise history.
Devin Carter led Sacramento with 21 points, while Nique Clifford added 18. Maxime Raynaud posted 11 points and 16 rebounds for his 18th double-double of the season, the most by any rookie in the NBA.
DeMar DeRozan also reached a major career milestone in the first half. He scored nine points in 10 minutes, pushing his career total to 26,711 and moving him past Oscar Robertson for 16th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
The Clippers now turn to a key home game against Dallas on Tuesday night. The Kings return to action the same night with a trip to Golden State.
