Raptors shock Kawhi Leonard and Clippers with strong bounce-back performance

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Break up the Raptors.

Masai Ujiri just might, with the NBA’s trade deadline arriving Thursday, but in the meantime, his team is rolling. An eighth win in the past 10 games arrived via a dominant performance against Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers. Toronto won 115-108 with the offence having one of its best games of the season.

RJ Barrett scored 20, Gradey Dick 18, Scottie Barnes 15. Leonard was quiet for the Clippers with 14 on 6-for-18 shooting, while James Harden had 25 but shot only 7-for-20.

Toronto broke a tight one open with wave after wave of transition offence in the third quarter against a Clippers team that looked a step slow. That included Leonard, who was playing only his 11th game of the season after recovering from another injury. Toronto scored 17 of its 31 points in the third on transition on the way to taking a 15-point lead. Los Angeles was held to just 28% shooting in the frame.

It was a rare outing where Toronto made more three-pointers than its opponent (13-9).

Toronto had won five games in a row until a home loss against Chicago on Friday, but responded with an impressive overall performance in a matinee that might have started before most of the Clippers were awake.

Barrett and Harden started strong in an entertaining first quarter that saw Toronto shoot 65% from the field. The game was tied 61-61 at halftime with Harden scoring 17, Barrett and Barnes 12 each.

Immanuel Quickley scored 11 points before exiting with 7:08 left in the third quarter. Quickley, playing in his second game after returning from a groin injury, did not re-enter the game. He had said Friday that the groin issue was not yet 100%.

Kelly Olynyk and Chris Boucher both returned to the rotation after being rested during Friday’s loss against Chicago. Toronto was without backup point guards Davion Mitchell and Jamal Shead while Quickley remained under a minutes restriction in only his second game back in the lineup.

That meant more reps running the offence for Barrett and Barnes. Barrett excelled as a point forward, and also played well defensively, a recent positive trend.

Los Angeles came in with the NBA’s second-best defence this season, with long-time head coach Jeff Van Gundy, in charge of the team’s defence under Ty Lue, being a big reason why. However, the team had no answers for the Raptors, who set a season high for dunks.

Leonard’s personal 10-game winning streak against Toronto came to an end.

While Leonard made a rare Toronto return, Norman Powell, who also won a championship with the Raptors, was out due to an injury that popped up sometime after Friday’s game in Charlotte.