NBA: Clippers on the rise, while Wizards looking for more offense

The surging Los Angeles Clippers will have a brief home stand between East Coast road trips when they face the Washington Wizards on Wednesday in Inglewood, California.

Travel fatigue aside, the Clippers have continued their strong run, improving to 10-2 since December 20. They held off the Charlotte Hornets 117-109 on Monday behind 35 points from Kawhi Leonard and 32 points with 10 assists from James Harden.

Leonard has become the focal point of Los Angeles’ offense, averaging 32.7 points per game over the past 12 contests. But Harden drew some attention Monday by moving into ninth place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list with 28,614 points, surpassing Shaquille O’Neal (28,596).

Harden, a Los Angeles native, grew up making a name for himself in Southern California while O’Neal was busy winning championships with the Lakers.

“Shaq, as I’ve said before, is someone I watched growing up in LA, watching Kobe Bryant and the Lakers do some special things for the city,” Harden said. “So that’s definitely special.”

The victory over Charlotte followed a one-day rest from a tough East Coast trip, during which the Clippers played three games in four days.

“This is a huge win for us to gut this one out,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. He highlighted a 15-1 run in the fourth quarter that sealed the victory.

After Tuesday’s game, the Clippers will embark on another three-game road trip to the East Coast, including a rematch with the Wizards on Monday.

Washington remains short-handed after a high-profile trade with the Atlanta Hawks on Friday. The Wizards acquired four-time All-Star guard Trae Young, but he has yet to play due to a hamstring injury. The trade sent CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert to Atlanta, both of whom have already made their Hawks debuts.

The Wizards opened a four-game road trip Sunday with a 112-93 loss at Phoenix, marking their second-lowest scoring game of the season.

Alex Sarr led Washington with 19 points and 15 rebounds, while rookie Tre Johnson also scored 19 points. However, Washington committed 23 turnovers, resulting in 20 points for Phoenix, and allowed 15 offensive rebounds and 25 second-chance points.

“It wasn’t just straight rebounding,” Wizards coach Brian Keefe said. “There were 10 points lost when we had the ball and quickly gave it back, or there was a loose ball they recovered. It was 50-50 battles that we lost. It’s something we’re going to look at.”

Johnson, the No. 6 overall pick in the most recent NBA draft, has started each of the past nine games and is averaging 14.9 points during that stretch, including three games with at least 19 points.

With McCollum now in Atlanta, Sarr leads Washington with 17.3 points per game while maintaining a team-high 7.8 rebounds. Kyshawn George, held to five points on 2-of-10 shooting Sunday, averages 14.7 points and leads the team with 4.9 assists.

As rookies last season, Sarr averaged 13.0 points with 6.5 rebounds, while George contributed 8.7 points and 2.5 assists.

—Field Level Media/Reuters