Kawhi Leonard scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the visiting Los Angeles Clippers beat the Denver Nuggets 105-102 on Monday to level their Western Conference first-round playoff series at one win apiece.
Denver’s Christian Braun and Nikola Jokic missed 3-point attempts to end the game. Jokic wound up with a triple-double.
James Harden added 18 points, Ivica Zubac contributed 16 points and 12 rebounds and Norman Powell scored 13 points for Los Angeles.
“Tough fight,” Leonard said postgame on TNT. “This is what the playoffs are about.”
The best-of-seven series shifts to California for Game 3 on Thursday in Inglewood.
“We definitely had a chance to win the game,” said Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, “so now our minds switch and we have to go to L.A. with an attack mindset and get one of these games.”
Leonard bounced back from a seven-turnover performance in the opener on Saturday, a 112-110 Denver win in overtime. He hit his first six shots on Monday, missed a pullup jumper early in the second quarter and didn’t miss again until early in the fourth.
He scored 12 points in the final period and finished the game with just one turnover.
“We know when we got a healthy Kawhi, we can win any series,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “And that just shows you, tonight, what he’s capable of doing. …
“Our best player, if he’s going like that, we’re going to continue to feed him. And so guys are getting their shots. All the guys understand their roles and when shots are going to come, and they have no problem with that.”
Denver was the team plagued by turnovers in Game 2. The Nuggets finished with 20 — matching the Clippers’ total from Saturday. Jokic had seven giveaways on Monday to go with his 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
“I felt like when we got a stop we just had a couple of missed opportunities,” Murray said. “I almost turned it over and AG (Aaron Gordon) missed a dunk because he was looking at the shot clock. Those ones really hurt. We’ve just got to take care of the ball.”
Michael Porter Jr., held to three points in Game 1, finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds for Denver. Murray scored 23 points, and Russell Westbrook and Aaron Gordon finished with 14 apiece.
Los Angeles used a 9-2 run to lead 87-81 early in the fourth, but the Nuggets answered to retake the lead. The Clippers went back up by four with 5:16 left on a Powell floating jump shot.
Jokic split a pair of free throws and Porter hit a 3-pointer off a turnover to tie it before Porter sank a go-ahead free throw (but missed the second) with 3:31 left.
Zubac’s layup and Leonard’s 10-foot jumper gave the Clippers a 100-97 lead before Murray and Powell traded 3-pointers, leaving Los Angeles up 103-100 with 1:30 to go. Jokic’s two free throws with 1:16 left cut the deficit to one before Leonard hit another jumper with 54.1 seconds remaining.
Leonard stole Jokic’s pass but Harden missed at the other end. The Nuggets’ two shots for the tie were unsuccessful.
Things became heated with 5:18 left in the third quarter. Murray was called for a foul when he grabbed Powell around the waist. Powell reacted with a swipe at Murray, and both teams and coaches came out to try to defuse the situation.
Braun, Powell and Los Angeles’ Kris Dunn were given technical fouls.
–Field Level Media
