Kawhi Leonard recorded 30 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and four steals to lead Los Angeles Clippers to a 96-85 victory over Denver Nuggets in Game Four of the Western Conference semifinal series.
Montrezl Harrell added 15 points and fellow reserve Lou Williams tallied 12, as the Clippers took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Nikola Jokic had 26 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for Denver, which failed to reach 100 points for the second time in the series. Jamal Murray had 18 points and seven assists, Michael Porter Jnr scored 15 points and Gary Harris scored 10 for the Nuggets.
Denver also dug itself a 3-1 deficit in the first round against Utah Jazz, before winning three straight to claim the series.
Ivica Zubac had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Marcus Morris Snr also scored 11 points for Los Angeles, which shot 41.8 percent from the field and was eight-of-28 from three-point range. Paul George scored 10 points.
The Nuggets shot 39.7 percent from the field, including nine-of-27 from beyond the arc.
Denver recovered from an early 17-point deficit to knot the score at 48, after scoring the first eight points of the third quarter.
But Leonard and Patrick Beverley scored baskets to start a 21-5 burst. Williams ended the run with a floater to give Los Angeles a 69-53 advantage with 3m 33s left in the third quarter.
The Clippers led 73-63 entering the final stanza, but Harrell took over with Leonard resting, scoring the team's first three field goals of the fourth quarter, as the lead reached 80-65 with 8m 51s left.
Leonard's steal and length-of-the-court drive for a lay-up made it 88-69 with 5m 44s remaining.
A short time later, Denver used a 12-2 run to pull within 92-83 on Murray's 3-pointer, but Zubac scored the next three points and Landry Shamet split two free throws to increase the Los Angeles lead to 13 and stomp out any final charge by the Nuggets.
Leonard scored 17 first-half points, as the Clippers held a 48-40 lead at the break.
Los Angeles opened a 24-7 lead on Leonard's basket with 2m 25s remaining in the opening quarter.
Earlier, Toronto Raptors kept their title defence alive, levelling their Eastern Conference series with Boston Celtics at 3-3 with a 125-122 overtime win.
Reuters
