Leonard scores 38 to lead Clippers past Durant, Suns 115-110

PHOENIX (AP)— Kawhi Leonard scored 38 points, including a pair of late3-pointers, and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Phoenix Suns115-110 in the opener of their Western Conference playoff series onSunday.

Eric Gordonadded 19 points and hit a late 3 that kept the Clippers ahead.Russell Westbrook shot just 3 of 19 from the floor for Los Angelesbut made a pair of free throws with 17.7 seconds left for athree-point lead, then blocked Devin Booker’s layup attempt at theother end and swatted the ball off Booker to give the Clippers theball with 10.1 seconds remaining.

Kevin Durantscored 27 points for the Suns, who lost for the first time with himon the floor. Phoenix acquired the two-time NBA Finals MVP fromBrooklyn in February and injuries limited him to eight games — allSuns wins.

Devin Bookeradded 26 points for Phoenix, which will try to avoid falling into a2-0 hole at home on Tuesday.

The Sunstrailed 109-103 with 1:33 remaining but scored the next fivepoints. The Clippers grabbed multiple offensive rebounds on theensuing possession before Westbrook made his critical free throws.He finished with nine points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, threeblocks and two steals.

Los Angelesled for much of the evening until midway through the third quarter.Torrey Craig made back-to-back buckets, including one on a powerfulfast-break dunk, to push Phoenix ahead 70-68.

It was partof a 15-0 run that put the Suns up 77-68. The Clippers, led byLeonard’s 12 points in the third, recovered to tie the game at81-all heading into the fourth.

Leonard — atwo-time Finals MVP playing his first playoff game since June 14,2021 — did much of his damage from the mid-range, but moved behindthe 3-point arc in the game’s late moments. He hit a 3 with 2:36left and another at the 2-minute mark, finishing 13 of 24 shootingfrom the field.

The Clipperswere missing one of their best players in eight-time All-Star PaulGeorge. He sprained his right knee last month and it’s unclear ifhe’ll be able to play in this series.

Gordon scored12 points as the Clippers jumped to a 30-18 lead after one quarter.The Suns shot just 31.8% from the field in the first quarter andDurant was held scoreless.

Durant missedhis first five shots from the field before finally connecting on amid-range jumper early in the second quarter. That seemed to shakethe nerves and the 34-year-old poured in 17 points before thebreak, helping cut the Clippers’ lead to 59-54.

TIP-INS

Clippers:George hasn’t played since March 21. ... Ivica Zubac had 10 pointsand 11 rebounds in the first half.

Suns: G CamPayne (low back soreness) was not available. He was hurt in thenext-to-last game of the regular season. ... Were playing theirfirst home playoff game since a 33-point loss to the DallasMavericks in Game 7 of last year’s Western Conferencesemifinals.