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Clippers pull off unusually drama-free win over Charlotte

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No sensational comeback required.

Not when the Clippers defend like they did Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets, holding the NBA’s highest-scoring team to a season-low tally in an oddly drama-free 115-90 victory.

Justise Winslow, Luke Kennard, Brandon Boston Jr. and the rest of the Clippers bench did the heavy lifting again Sunday, outscoring the Hornets’ reserves 62-21 before a crowd of 18,674 at Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C.

But this time their efforts helped the Clippers hold a lead and instead of furiously trying to erase one.

En route to their third-largest winning margin this season, the Clippers never trailed by more than one point and led for the final 16:15 of play.

That’s noteworthy for a team that trailed by double digits in each of its past five games – three of which it won, including a rousing 35-point comeback against the Washington Wizards, a rally that will be remembered as the second-largest in league history and the most substantial in team history.

“Definitely, it feels good, always having the lead the whole time, not getting down by 20,” said the 20-year-old Boston, who had one of his best games yet, sharing the team scoring lead with Reggie Jackson with 19 points in 22 minutes on 8-for-14 shooting.

Off the bench, Winslow added with 13 points, eight rebounds and a career-high-tying three blocks and Kennard had a career-high-tying 10 rebounds to go with 14 points for his third career double-double.

It was the Clippers’ collective defense that made the biggest difference.

“Our defense,” Coach Tyronn Lue said on Zoom, “was spectacular.”

Indeed, the Clippers – who shot 52.4% – held the Hornets to a season-worst 32.7% shooting from the field, and to a benign 23.5% from 3-point range. Six Charlotte players scored in double figures, led by LaMelo Ball’s 23 points, but the flashy point guard from Chino Hills was the only member of his team to score more than 10 points after halftime.

While the Clippers (26-26) scored the 115 points that Charlotte (28-23) averages, the Hornets finished with 25 fewer points than that – and just four days after they put up 158 points on Indiana.

The Clippers will play in Indianapolis on Monday in the eighth and final game of their season-long road swing.

With Sunday’s win, they’re guaranteed to finish at worst 4-4 on the trip, despite playing without injured All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and, often, without either veteran forward Marcus Morris Sr. or veteran forward Nicolas Batum. (Morris returned after missing three games for personal reasons and scored 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting Sunday, when Batum was sidelined with back spasms.)

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Those absences have opened the door for Winslow, whose heady activity has helped the Clippers outscore opponents by 63 points in the 97 minutes he’s been on the court over the past four games – the fifth-most in the league in that span, and second most on the Clippers.

Fellow former Duke standout Kennard is plus-84 in his past four games, in which he’s logged 120 minutes and made 15 of 28 (53.6%) 3-point attempts, including 3 of 6 on Sunday.

Winslow said what impressed him about the Clippers’ defensive effort – which helped them solidify an eighth consecutive victory over the Hornets – was that they were able to bring it so early in the day.

“Just getting our bodies going,” Winslow said. “It was 1 p.m. here, but back home that’s 10 a.m. for us. We’ve been on the road for a while so our bodies have adjusted, but still just I think moreso than the road trip, we were able to play with a lot of energy, especially in that second half, we kind of put them away early in that fourth. So I think it was a great job by everyone just being able to play today.

“And we got another one tomorrow, so we gotta rest up and get ready for that.”

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