Bennedict Mathurin scored a season-high 38 points in his home debut for the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard added 23 in a 115-114 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday at Inglewood, Calif.
Derrick Jones Jr. produced 22 points and John Collins had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Clippers, who ended a two-game home losing streak. Los Angeles is 21-7 since Dec. 20, moving into ninth place in the Western Conference and a potential spot in the play-in tournament.
The Clippers led 115-112 with 9.1 seconds remaining after two free throws from Mathurin. However, the Nuggets had a chance to tie the game when Jamal Murray was fouled by Jones on a 3-point attempt with 0.9 seconds left.
Murray made the first two free throws but missed the third while shooting into the Clippers’ fan wall, and time expired.
Mathurin was playing in just his third game for the Clippers since arriving from the Indiana Pacers in a trade-deadline deal. Leonard reached 20 points for his 34th consecutive game.
Denver star Nikola Jokic compiled 22 points, 17 rebounds and six assists but saw his four-game triple-double streak come to an end. Murray amassed 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assist while Bruce Brown notched 19 points for Denver, which fell to 2-5 since Feb. 1.
The game became physical early in the fourth quarter when Denver’s Jonas Valanciunas was involved in a shoving match with the Clippers’ Yanic Konan Niederhauser, Mathurin and Kris Dunn. The incident resulted in three technical fouls, two for the Clippers.
The Nuggets made one free technical free throw after the skirmish for an 83-83 tie.
Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Peyton Watson (hamstring) remained out for the Nuggets. Daruis Garland (toe) has yet to make his Clippers debut after he was acquired from the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for James Harden at the trade deadline.
Los Angeles closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 25-24 lead after trailing by nine points less than four minutes into the game. Denver led 52-45 at halftime behind 17 points from Brown, while Mathurin had 18 for Los Angeles.
Murray and Jokic represented the Nuggets in Sunday’s All-Star Game in the same building, while Leonard represented the host Clippers.
