Norman Powell scored 30 points, and James Harden added 23 points along with seven assists as the Los Angeles Clippers won 127-105 against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night in Inglewood, California, extending their home winning streak to nine games.
Amir Coffey scored 19 points, Derrick Jones Jr. added 15 points, and Ivica Zubac grabbed 10 rebounds as the Clippers bounced back from one of their four straight home losses right after their new $2 billion arena opened.
Powell has averaged 29.0 points in the two games since returning from a hamstring injury and has scored 30 or more points in a game five times this season.
Deandre Ayton scored 16 points, and Shaedon Sharpe and Deni Avdija each added 15 points for the Trail Blazers, who lost their fourth game in the last five and their seventh out of their last eight road games. Dalano Banton scored 14 points, and Jerami Grant added 12 for Portland.
This was the final NBA Cup group-play game for both teams. The Blazers were eliminated from the knockout round with the loss, while the Clippers were also eliminated after tiebreakers.
Los Angeles started strong, taking a double-digit lead early in the first quarter and leading by as much as 12 in the opening period. However, Portland came back to take the lead just over two minutes into the second quarter.
The Clippers led 63-58 at halftime, and the game stayed close into the third quarter until the Clippers went on an 11-0 run to take an 83-70 lead. Los Angeles ended the third quarter with a 91-78 advantage after Harden scored 12 points in the period.
In the final quarter, Jordan Miller scored five points during an 8-0 run to help the Clippers push their lead to 99-78 with 10:03 left, and they cruised to the win from there. Miller finished with 14 points.
The Clippers were without Kevin Porter Jr. (ankle) and lost Terance Mann (finger) in the third quarter. The Trail Blazers were missing Scoot Henderson (quad), Donovan Clingan (knee), and Robert Williams III (concussion protocol).
