Battle of Los Angeles sees Leonard-led Clippers trip Lakers

KAWHI Leonard had 35 points and 12 rebounds to lead the visiting Los Angeles Clippers to a come-frombehind, 111-106 win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday evening.

Montrezl Harrell scored 18 points off the bench, and Paul George had 17 points on 5-for-18 shooting for the Clippers, who are 2-0 against the Lakers this season.

With 3.6 seconds to go and the Clippers up by three, Patrick Beverley blocked a LeBron James 3-point attempt. George then made two free throws to seal the outcome.

Kyle Kuzma scored a season-high 25 points off the bench for the Lakers, who have lost four in a row. They hadn't dropped consecutive games all season before the current skid. Anthony Davis scored 24 points, and James finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.

Raptors bow to Celtics in Christmas Day special

Jaylen Brown scored 30 points and the visiting Boston Celtics defeated the Toronto Raptors 118-102 on Wednesday afternoon.

Kemba Walker added 22 points for the Celtics, who have won four in a row and ended Toronto’s 34-game home winning streak against Atlantic Division teams.

The Celtics have won the first two games between the teams this season. They meet again in Boston on Saturday.

The game was the first Christmas Day home game for the Raptors in their history.

Boston shot 50 percent from the field and the Raptors shot 47.5 percent.