Kawhi Leonard scored 41 points, grabbed eight rebounds and made four steals on Sunday to lead the Los Angeles Clippers in a lopsided 115-96 NBA victory at Minnesota.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old forward, a two-time NBA champion, matched the second-best road scoring effort of his career as the Clippers<\/a> improved to 25-27.<\/p>\n “Just being aggressive. My teammates trust me,” Leonard<\/a> said. “Every moment when I touch the ball – assist, shooting the basketball or getting a rebound – I’m just trying to help the team win.”<\/p>\n Leonard made three steals in a row at the start of the contest<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Just wanted to come out early in the game and set a tone for us on the defensive end,” Leonard said. “I reached for the ball, I got it and we got off in transition.”<\/p>\n After dealing away James Harden<\/a> and Ivica Zubac<\/a> at the NBA trade deadline, the Clippers played with spark as they awaited the arrival of new players.<\/p>\n “We’ve got a good group,” Leonard said. “Guys are level-headed. They love to play basketball. We’re just going out and competing every night.”<\/p>\n Leonard delivered 24 points in the first half on the way to his fourth 40-point performance of the season for the Clippers, who closed the second quarter with a 20-6 run for a 54-42 half-time lead and never looked back.<\/p>\n Days after French big man Rudy Gobert<\/a> had called out teammates for “unacceptable” poor effort, the T-Wolves struggled again with their second-fewest points in any game this season.<\/p>\n Anthony Edwards<\/a> led Minnesota<\/a> with 23 points while Julius Randle<\/a> added 17.<\/p>\n Kris Dunn<\/a> of the Clippers was ejected late in the fourth quarter after shoving Randle in the back to spark a shoving match that was broken up by teammates.<\/p>\n Jalen Brunson<\/a> produced game highs of 31 points and eight assists to spark the New York Knicks<\/a> over Boston<\/a> 111-89<\/a> for their ninth win in 10 games.<\/p>\n Brunson hit 12-of-21 shots from the floor and 4-of-8 from three-point range for the visiting Knicks, who improved to 34-19 to match Boston for second in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n Josh Hart<\/a> added 19 points for New York while Jose Alvarado<\/a> had 12 off the bench in his Knicks debut and Karl-Anthony Towns<\/a> contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds.<\/p>\n Jaylen Brown<\/a> led Boston with 26 points as the Celtics settled for a season low in points.<\/p>\n The Knicks ended the third quarter with a 15-3 run for an 85-68 lead and cruised from there, the Celtics going 0-for-10 from three-point range in the third quarter.<\/p>\n Miami<\/a>‘s Bam Adebayo<\/a> scored 22 points and Norman Powell<\/a> added 21 to lead the Heat in a 132-101 triumph<\/a> at Washington<\/a>.<\/p>\n Toronto<\/a>‘s Scottie Barnes<\/a> scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while RJ Barrett<\/a> added 20 points to lead the Raptors (32-22) over visiting Indiana<\/a> 122-104.<\/a><\/p>\n Former Raptors star Pascal Siakam<\/a> of Cameroon scored 18 points to lead Indiana (13-40), which suffered a fourth loss in a row.<\/p>\n