KAWHI Leonard recorded 31 points and seven rebounds before exiting with an apparent injury, and the Los Angeles Clippers notched a 118-104 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night (Tuesday in Manila) to tie their Western Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.
Paul George also scored 31 points and collected nine rebounds as Los Angeles won its second straight game in the best-of-seven series. Marcus Morris Sr. scored 22 of his 24 points during a first half in which the Clippers led by as many as 29 points.
Donovan Mitchell poured in 37 points to tie the Utah franchise playoff record of six straight 30-point outings held by Hall of Famer Karl Malone (three in 1995, three in 1996).
Game 5 is Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) at Salt Lake City.
Leonard left the contest with 4:35 remaining and didn’t return. His departure came less than a minute after he grabbed at his right knee following a collision with the Jazz’s Joe Ingles.
Utah’s Mike Conley (hamstring) sat out and has missed all four games of the series.
Ingles scored 19 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 18 for the top-seeded Jazz, who shot 42.9 percent from the field and were 17 of 42 (40.5 percent) from 3-point range.
Fourth-seeded Los Angeles made 46.8 percent of its shots and hit 15 of 37 (40.5 percent) from behind the arc.
In the other game, Trae Young collected 25 points and a career-high-tying 18 assists to fuel the host Atlanta Hawks to a 103-100 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Hawks overcame an 18-point, second-quarter deficit and evened the best-of-seven series at two wins apiece. Game 5 is Wednesday (Thursday in Manila) in Philadelphia.
With Atlanta nursing a 101-100 lead, Philadelphia forced the Hawks into a turnover before taking a timeout with 16.6 seconds to play. Joel Embiid, however, failed to convert on a drive to the basket with 8.8 seconds remaining to fall to 0-for-12 from the floor in the second half.
