Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell will return to oppose the team they helped win the 2019 NBA championship when the Los Angeles Clippers visit the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.

Leonard was the NBA Finals MVP and Powell also played a key role when the Raptors won their lone championship.

After that season, Leonard departed as a free agent. Powell was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood on March 25, 2021.

Leonard (right knee injury management) did not play, and Powell scored 16 points for the Clippers on Monday in their 142-131 overtime victory over the host Detroit Pistons.

Leonard, who has not been playing both ends of back-to-back games, appears likely to play Tuesday.

If he plays, Leonard would appear in a game at Toronto for the third time since he was with the Raptors. He scored 23 points in a Los Angeles win on Dec. 11, 2019, and he had 20 in a Clippers victory on May 11, 2021.

Powell has played at Toronto once since leaving the Raptors. He scored 13 points as the Blazers prevailed on March 28, 2021 — just days after Toronto traded him.

The Clippers have split the first two games of a five-game road trip thanks to a huge comeback at Detroit.

The Raptors will be playing for the first time since they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 118-107 on Friday to complete a 2-1 road trip.

After losing six straight, Toronto has won two in a row, ending the New York Knicks’ eight-game winning streak and the Cavaliers’ five-game winning streak.

Pascal Siakam played a large role in the victories. After scoring 38 points in an overtime loss to the Philadelphia 76ers to open the trip, he posted a career-best 52 points against New York and added 26 points against the Cavaliers. Siakam was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.

In his one season in Toronto, Leonard showed Siakam how to stay on an even keel.

Siakam said earlier this year of Leonard, “Nothing really fazed him. He was just focused on his goal, and his goal was winning. It didn’t matter if he shot bad or whatever, or had a good game, he had the same mentality.”

Siakam showed another aspect of his game against the Cavaliers when he had nine assists.

“Just trying to control the game and understand what I can do and (that) it’s not just about scoring,” Siakam said. “It’s about passing the basketball, trying to rebound, it’s about getting my teammates involved. And I feel like I’m growing in that aspect of my game.”

The Clippers’ victory in Detroit was a roller-coaster game. The Clippers led by 15 points in the third quarter and then trailed by 14 points with three minutes to play in regulation before tying the game at 128 to force overtime.

Los Angeles’ Paul George scored seven of his 32 points in overtime.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue removed his starters when his team trailed 126-112 with 3:34 to go. A group that included Luke Kennard, Terance Mann, Amir Coffey, Nicolas Batum and Moses Brown started the rally. Mann’s jumper tied the game with five seconds left in regulation.

“You have to give those guys credit for staying ready,” Lue said. “They came out and played with some urgency. Amir and Moses hadn’t played in the game, so for them to come in and produce like the way they did was huge.”

George and Powell returned to the floor with 26 seconds left in regulation.

“I thought our defense changed the game,” Lue said. “We were rebounding the ball and we had deflections and steals.”

–Field Level Media

Kyrie Irving scored 15 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter as the Brooklyn Nets survived a shaky finish and extended their winning streak to a season-high nine games with a 125-117 victory over the host Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.

On the 11th anniversary of his NBA debut with Cleveland, Irving made 11 of 19 shots and hit seven 3-pointers as Brooklyn took a pair of 19-point leads before withstanding Cleveland’s late comeback try that featured several big shots by Darius Garland, who led all scorers with 46 points. While Garland made 14 of 20 shots and finished with his fourth 40-point game of his career, Donovan Mitchell was held to 15 points.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points but fouled out for the sixth time in his career when he bumped Garland with 1:54 remaining. Durant also moved past Tim Duncan for 15th place on the all-time scoring list and ended the night at 26,516 career points.

Garland scored 18 of his points in the fourth, including a jumper in the lane that made it 121-117 with 44 seconds left. After two free throws by Irving, Garland was blocked in the lane by Nic Claxton with 31.3 seconds remaining and T.J. Warren hit two free throws to ice it with 13.8 ticks left.

Clippers 142, Pistons 131 (OT)

Paul George scored 32 points and handed out 11 assists as visiting Los Angeles, which rallied from a 14-point deficit in the last three minutes of regulation, captured an overtime victory over Detroit.

Luke Kennard had 18 points for Los Angeles, while Marcus Morris Sr., Norman Powell and John Wall supplied 16 points apiece.

Bojan Bogdanovic led eight Pistons in double figures with 23 points. Isaiah Stewart had 21 points, Killian Hayes tossed in 18 with 10 assists and Jalen Duren added 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Heat 113, Timberwolves 110

Miami’s defense forced 22 turnovers, the last coming on Kyle Lowry’s steal in the closing seconds, to hold off visiting Minnesota.

Max Strus led the way with 19 points, including 5-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Strus was one of five Miami players to score in double figures. Lowry finished with 18 points and a game-high nine assists.

Anthony Edwards led all scorers with 29 points. Edwards, however, committed eight of Minnesota’s 22 turnovers, the last of which came on the Wolves’ final opportunity when D’Angelo Russell lost the ball and Lowry came up with it to deny Minnesota a look at a potential overtime-forcing 3-pointer.

Pelicans 113, Pacers 93

Jonas Valanciunas had 20 points and 12 rebounds and short-handed New Orleans routed visiting Indiana for its third win in a row.

Naji Marshall added a career-high 22 points for the Pelicans, who played without Zion Williamson (reconditioning), Brandon Ingram (toe), Herbert Jones Jr. (health and safety protocols), Trey Murphy III (non-COVID illness) and Dyson Daniels (non-COVID illness).

Bennedict Mathurin put up 15 points and Myles Turner scored 14 to lead the Pacers, who finished a 2-1 road trip.

Rockets 133, Bulls 118

Kevin Porter Jr. scored 15 of his season-high 36 points in the fourth quarter as Houston snapped a five-game losing streak with a victory over host Chicago.

After the Bulls cut what was a 19-point deficit to 109-100, Porter responded with back-to-back 3-pointers and a midrange pull-up that allowed the Rockets to finally seize control of a back-and-forth affair. Porter had plenty of help, however, as Alperen Sengun added 25 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

DeMar DeRozan led Chicago with 31 points and nine assists. Zach LaVine scored 22 points and Coby White had 14 off the bench for the Bulls, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Spurs 126, Jazz 122

Devin Vassell scored 24 points and Tre Jones hit two shots in the lane in the final seconds to allow San Antonio to outlast visiting Utah.

The Spurs, who had lost four of their previous five games, held on down the stretch after being up by 20 points late in the third quarter and by 14 heading to the fourth. Keldon Johnson added 21 points for the Spurs, with Malaki Branham scoring a career-high 20.

Lauri Markkanen led the Jazz with 32 points and 12 rebounds. Jordan Clarkson added 25 points for Utah, which had a two-game winning streak end.

Trail Blazers 124, Hornets 113

Jerami Grant recorded 32 points and 10 rebounds, Jusuf Nurkic scored a season-high 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and Portland continued its home domination of Charlotte.

Nurkic made a career-best five 3-pointers (in seven attempts) and Grant made four as Portland ended a three-game slide. LaMelo Ball registered 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists before fouling out for the Hornets, who lost for the 10th time in the past 12 games.

The setback was Charlotte’s 15th in a row in Portland dating back to a 93-85 victory on March 29, 2008, when the franchise was known as the Bobcats.

–Field Level Media

The Boston Celtics passed a big Christmas Day test to reclaim the best record in the entire NBA.

After scoring 139 points in Sunday’s win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, the Celtics will host the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night in search of their third consecutive victory.

Jayson Tatum scored 41 points on 14-of-22 shooting to lead the Celtics against Milwaukee. One second-quarter hoop stood out, as Tatum took one of Marcus Smart’s eight assists and slammed a dunk over the Bucks’ Greek superstar.

That basket seemed to be a microcosm of the entire game, as the Celtics strung together multiple wins for the first time since a three-game streak from Dec. 5-7. They had previously lost five of six.

“It did feel good to kind of get back to playing the way we know how to play,” Tatum said. “We have the emotional understanding of, it’s a long season, and there’s going to be great stretches and some bad ones. It’s just kind of not letting the bad ones snowball, and get back on track sooner rather than later.”

Jaylen Brown led the way late, scoring 13 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter.

Tatum dropped 20 points in the third and finished with the second-highest Christmas scoring effort in franchise history as the Celtics blew open what was a one-point game at halftime.

It was the eighth career game Brown and Tatum combined for at least 70 points.

The Celtics not only got back to their early-season offensive ways — shooting 58.8 percent and banging in 19 3-pointers — but they also allowed just eight offensive rebounds and nine second-chance points.

“I think that has to become the identity of our team, is really working to win those factors consistently, whether we shoot the ball (well) or not,” Boston interim coach Joe Mazzulla said. “And I think our last two games, we’ve kind of done that.”

The Celtics opened their current seven-game homestand with two losses to Orlando, which had just five wins before going 8-1 in its last nine.

Boston looks to avoid a similar result against the Rockets, who are alone in the Western Conference cellar, but broke a five-game skid with Monday’s 133-118 win at Chicago.

Tuesday marks Houston’s second game on a three-game road trip. The Rockets will visit Dallas Thursday for a rematch of Friday’s game in which Mavericks star Luka Doncic scored 50 points.

“It’ll give us an opportunity to refocus, be together for a long time and not have any outside distractions and focus on hoop, which we need to do,” Houston coach Stephen Silas said.

Against the Bulls, Kevin Porter Jr. led Houston with a season-high 36 points on six 3-pointers while adding seven rebounds and nine assists.

Alperen Sengun posted 25 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double in a three-game span. He added six assists, two blocks and one steal to help beat Chicago.

Eric Gordon scored 12 points after missing the previous game with a bruised left thumb.

“You just got to have a winning mentality,” Gordon said. “When you’re on the road like this, you can’t make mistakes. You have to understand that we have a small margin for error to win any game. That’s why limiting mistakes and playing for one another is huge.”

The Celtics and Rockets have not met since November of 2021. Boston has won four straight head-to-head games.

–Field Level Media

The Indiana Pacers look to get back on the winning track when they return to Indianapolis for a four-game homestand that begins Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks.

This is the first of three meetings between the two teams this season. The Hawks swept all four games against the Pacers in 2021-22, marking their first four-game regular-season sweep over Indiana since the 2005-06 season. In their four wins last season, the Hawks averaged 127.5 points on 54.6 percent shooting.

The Pacers are coming off a 113-93 loss at New Orleans on Monday. Indianapolis scored just 38 points in the first half and never got back into the game. Their two-game winning streak came to an end. The Pacers are 5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs.

Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, who had totaled 76 points in the last two games, scored only 12 points on Monday. Haliburton was coming off a career-best effort in Friday’s 111-108 win at Miami. He scored 43 points and set a new franchise record by making 10 3-pointers. Haliburton made the winning 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds remaining.

Aaron Nesmith had his first career double-double on Dec. 18 against New York with 23 points and 10 rebounds. He has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games.

“Just playing free, playing to my strengths, playing off my teammates,” Nesmith said. “Getting comfortable and learning what guys’ tendencies are, where I can get open, where I can affect the game. Just making the right reads.”

Atlanta is coming off a 130-105 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday. The 25-point margin of victory was its largest of the season and the most since a 27-point win over the Toronto Raptors on Feb. 26, 2022. In the second half, Atlanta outscored the Pistons 70-42 for its largest positive point differential after intermission and the largest since May 5, 2021, against the Phoenix Suns.

“I thought our guys stayed with it,” Atlanta coach Nate McMillan said. “I thought our guys played the game. The second half, we started to get more aggressive in our switches, keeping the ball in front of us. We did a better job keeping the ball out of the paint and making them shoot over us.”

Over the last four games, the Hawks are 3-1 and are averaging 122.3 points and 26.5 assists on 50.3 percent shooting, 40.2 percent on 3-pointers and 87.2 percent at the line. The Brooklyn Nets are the only other team to match those numbers since Dec. 16.

Trae Young leads the Hawks with 27.5 points and 9.9 assists. In his last game, Young had 26 points, 13 assists and only one turnover. That broke a stretch of three consecutive 30-plus point games. He averaged 32.3 points and 10.7 assists in Atlanta’s three games last week.

The Hawks fielded their complete lineup for the first time all season against Detroit when center Clint Capela returned.

“It was good to come out and get a good rhythm and get a good win,” Young said. “We’re 1-0 with everybody healthy.”

–Field Level Media

Jerami Grant recorded 32 points and 10 rebounds, Jusuf Nurkic scored a season-high 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers continued their home domination of the Charlotte Hornets with a 124-113 victory on Monday night.

Nurkic made a career-best five 3-pointers (in seven attempts) and Grant made four as Portland ended a three-game slide.

LaMelo Ball registered 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists before fouling out for the Hornets, who lost for the 10th time in the past 12 games. P.J. Washington added 22 points and joined Ball in making four 3-pointers.

The setback was Charlotte’s 15th in a row in Portland dating back to a 93-85 victory on March 29, 2008, when the franchise was known as the Bobcats.

Anfernee Simons scored 18 points, Damian Lillard added 17 points and nine assists and Josh Hart had 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Trail Blazers. Lillard was just 5 of 18 from the field and Portland shot 50 percent, including 14 of 38 from 3-point range.

Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 15 points, Mason Plumlee added 14 and Gordon Hayward had 10 for the Hornets, who connected on 39.8 percent of their shots and were 12 of 36 from behind the arc.

Portland recovered from a 14-point deficit in the second quarter and put 40 points on the board in the third to take a six-point advantage into the final stanza.

The Trail Blazers scored 11 of the first 14 points of the third quarter to take a 72-70 lead on Hart’s basket with 9:14 remaining.

Later in the period, Nurkic scored on a dunk and a 3-pointer and Hart added a dunk to make it 90-81 with 3:26 remaining. Lillard’s first 3-pointer of the contest made it 93-83 with 2:54 left.

Drew Eubanks connected from 3-point range to give the Trail Blazers a 100-87 lead with 1:30 left. But Ball hit two treys during an 8-1 closing run as Charlotte trailed 101-95 entering the fourth.

Nurkic’s fourth 3-pointer of the game gave Portland a 108-99 lead with 8:55 left. His fifth trey came with 3:04 remaining and Lillard followed with a jumper 32 seconds later to make it 121-106 as the Trail Blazers closed it out.

Washington scored 13 first-half points as the Hornets led 67-61 at the break.

Charlotte led 65-51 on Hayward’s 18-footer with 2:16 remaining in the first half. Portland finished with a 10-2 burst to start its comeback.

–Field Level Media

Devin Vassell scored 24 points and Tre Jones hit two shots in the lane in the final seconds to allow the San Antonio Spurs to outlast the visiting Utah Jazz and earn a 126-122 win on Monday.

The Spurs held on down the stretch after being up by 20 points late in the third quarter and by 14 heading to the fourth.

The Jazz clawed within 121-117 on a free throw by Jarred Vanderbilt with 1:23 to play. Jones hit a running floater in the lane with 34.7 seconds left that pushed San Antonio’s lead to six points.

Jordan Clarkson’s 3-pointer with 30.6 seconds remaining made it a one-possession game, but Jones hit another layup with the shot clock winding down with 7.8 seconds to go. After a dunk by Utah’s Lauri Markkanen, Vassell made a free throw with one second left to secure the win.

San Antonio has won five of its past nine games after an 11-game losing streak.

Keldon Johnson added 21 points for the Spurs, with Malaki Branham scoring a career-high 20, Jakob Poeltl hitting for 16, Doug McDermott tallying 14, Jones contributing 11 and Zach Collins racking up 10.

Markkanen led the Jazz with 32 points and 12 rebounds. Jordan Clarkson added 25 points, Mike Conley scored 17 and Malik Beasley and Collin Sexton each had 13 points in the loss.

The Spurs led by as many as nine points while dominating the first quarter and hitting 50 percent of their shots. Johnson had 11 points in the period, after which San Antonio was up 31-26.

Two consecutive 3-pointers by Conley and another by Markkanen tied the game at 44-44 with 5:19 to play in the second quarter. San Antonio took a 56-47 lead after a running layup by Johnson with 3:16 remaining, and three free throws by Vassell over the final 32.7 seconds allowed the Spurs to take a 63-56 advantage to the break.

Johnson led all scorers with 17 points before halftime while Branham added 12 for San Antonio. The Spurs outshot Utah 56.1 percent to 37.3 percent in the half and scored 38 points in the paint.

Markkanen and Conley paced the Jazz with 14 points apiece over the first two periods.

–Field Level Media