Norman Powell scored 20 points and Ivica Zubac added 18 points to go along with 18 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers celebrated Kawhi Leonard’s season debut with a 131-105 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday Inglewood, Calif.
Amir Coffey scored 17 points and Leonard had 12 on 4-of-11 shooting in 19 minutes of court time after missing the first 34 games of the season with a right knee injury. Terance Mann (finger) also returned after missing the previous 11 games and scored 12 points in 16 minutes.
Los Angeles took control early, leading by 27 points in the first half before improving to 12-2 at home since Nov. 4.
Trae Young scored 20 points and dished out 14 assists and De’Andre Hunter added 18 points as the Hawks lost for the second straight night in the Los Angeles area following a 119-102 loss to the Lakers on Friday.
Garrison Mathews scored 15 points and Zaccharie Risacher added 13 for Atlanta, which lost its third straight game.
The Hawks’ Jalen Johnson (shoulder) missed the second of three games, while Bogdan Bogdanovic (leg) sat out for the sixth time in seven games.
Leonard made his first shot of the season, a 3-pointer from the left wing just two minutes into the game.
After leading 29-28 in one quarter, the Clippers used a 27-4 run in the second quarter to build a 63-39 advantage. Los Angeles was up 74-54 at halftime after shooting 54.5 percent from the floor while forcing 13 Atlanta turnovers.
The Clippers led 98-76 after three quarters, and Mann scored his first five points of the game in the third. The Hawks never really threatened in the final quarter.
Los Angeles shot 55.2 percent from the floor in the game and had a season-high 36 assists. James Harden had 15 of those assists to go with 10 points.
Atlanta shot 43.2 percent overall and finished with 23 turnovers.
–Field Level Media