Kawhi Leonard had 27 points, Darius Garland added 24, and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Toronto Raptors 119-94 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Bennedict Mathurin had 23 off the bench and Brook Lopez scored 11 of his 14 points in the first quarter for the Clippers, who have won three in a row.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles stayed a half-game ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers for eighth in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n
Brandon Ingram had 18 points, Sandro Mamukelashvili chipped in with 13, but the Raptors have now lost three straight.<\/p>\n
Toronto dropped into sixth in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the Atlanta Hawks, and is a half-game ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers in seventh.<\/p>\n
With Lopez setting the tone, the Clippers outscored the Raptors 23-9 over the final 6:10 of the first quarter to open a 14-point lead.<\/p>\n
The Raptors found themselves trailing by 22 in the second quarter before a late 11-1 run cut the gap. However, Toronto could have cut into the advantage even more had it capitalized better on 10 offensive rebounds or from the free-throw line, where it shot 14.3% (1 for 7) in the period.<\/p>\n
Mamukelashvili knocked down consecutive 3-pointers as the Raptors tried to make one more push late in the third quarter, only for the Clippers to pull away again, with Garland making a 35-footer at the buzzer.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles was 19 for 24 from the free-throw line and outscored Toronto there by 15 points. <\/p>\n
Raptors center Jakob Poeltl was briefly forced out of the game after sustaining a cut near his left eye going up for a rebound early in the second quarter and finished with 10 points.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
Raptors: Host the Pelicans on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Clippers: Visit the Pacers on Friday night.<\/p>\n