Kawhi Leonard registered 26 points, eight rebounds and three steals as the visiting Los Angeles Clippers rallied from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the depleted Detroit Pistons 98-92 on Saturday.
John Collins supplied 25 points, seven rebounds, five steals and four blocks, while James Harden contributed 19 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Ivica Zubac added 17 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Clippers outscored the Pistons 30-16 in the fourth quarter.
Duncan Robinson led Detroit with 20 points but didn’t score after halftime. Ronald Holland had 16 points and six rebounds off the bench while Daniss Jenkins added 10 points but committed five turnovers. The Pistons were held to 39.8% shooting from the field.
Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham missed his second straight game due to a wrist injury. The Pistons were also missing Tobias Harris, Jalen Dure and Isaiah Stewart because of injuries.
Detroit led 55-41 at halftime, with Robinson making all but one of his six 3-point attempts. The Pistons doubled up the Clippers in the opening quarter, heading into the second quarter with a 28-14 lead before Leonard scored 11 of his 12 first-half points in an evenly scored second quarter.
Harden had nine third -quarter points as the Clippers pulled within eight points entering the fourth quarter, trailing 76-68.
Holland’s dunk with 10:37 left pushed the Pistons lead to 10 at 80-70. Another Holland dunk nudged the Pistons’ lead to 14 points with 9:37 to play.
The Clippers then reeled off 12 straight points. Leonard scored seven of those points and Jordan Miller capped it with a 3-pointer to make it 84-82 in favor of the Pistons with 7:21 to play.
Harden’s three-point play with 2:59 left tied the game at 90-90. Collins made two free throws after a steal to finally give the Clippers a 93-92 lead with two minutes left.
Harden set up Zubac for a dunk after a Pistons turnover, then split free throws with 22.7 seconds left for a 96-92 Clippers lead. Zubac closed it out with two free throws.
