LOS ANGELES — The Clippers came into Wednesday’s game cooking from deep, having hit 23 3-pointers against Milwaukee and 21 the next time out on Sunday against New Orleans – making it consecutive games with 20-plus 3-pointers, something they’ve done just three times total this season.

Robert Covington had a lot to do with that; he made a franchise-record 11 3-pointers in the Clippers’ 153-119 victory in Milwaukee on Friday.

But another Clipper also played an unexpected part – unexpected, unless you knew better.

Backup center Isaiah Hartenstein went 1 for 3 from 3-point range against the Bucks and then 2 for 2 against New Orleans on Sunday, in what was the first game of his career with multiple 3-pointers. His NBA career.

As has been brought to Clippers coach Tyronn Lue’s attention, Hartenstein connected on eight 3-pointers in Game 2 of the 2019 G League Finals, when he led the Rio Grande Vipers to the title and earned Finals MVP after averaging 28 points and 15.7 rebounds.

“It was on Jay Larranaga’s computer, (Hartenstein is) showing me … how he had eight 3s,” Lue said. “I said seven and he said, ‘No, I had eight.’ So he corrected me on that.”

To be fair, the 7-foot southpaw has wanted to correct everyone who assumes he doesn’t have an outside shot.

“The big thing that kind of pisses me off sometimes when I look is when people don’t do their research about some stuff,” said Hartenstein, who came into Wednesday’s game 13 for 39 (33.3%) from behind the arc in his four NBA seasons – and 9 for 22 (40.9%) as a Clipper.

“‘Cause I used to shoot 3s before I came in the league, in the G League I was shooting them,” Hartenstein said earlier this season, when he noted he’d made 25 consecutive 3-point attempts during the offseason and had recently given NBA 3-point shooting contestant Luke Kennard a run for his money in a 3-point shooting drill at practice.

“I’m not gonna force stuff, I just want the team to win, and now I’m kind of getting back to where I’m more comfortable shooting it … I think especially going into next year, I think it’ll be back to where it was before, coming into the league. I even see some (reporters), ‘Why the hell is he shooting 3s? And I’m like, ‘If y’all really did y’all research y’all would know.’”

The Clippers have registered enough data now to have faith in their big man’s shot.

“About a week ago, we just told him he had free rein,” Lue said. “End of the shot clock, the ball’s worked around, you step back, you can shoot your 3-point shot. He showed us clips from the G League championship

“So we’re giving him free rein to do that and if he doesn’t make a couple, then we gotta change it up. But he’s been doing OK.”

POWELL IN, KENNARD OUT

A week after the Clippers welcomed back All-Star wing Paul George, they got to reintroduce Norman Powell to proceedings, too.

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Powell, who suffered a fractured medial sesamoid bone in his left foot in a loss in Dallas on Feb. 10, was cleared to play for the first time since then on Wednesday against a short-handed Phoenix Suns team that was without starting center Deandre Ayton (ankle), All-Star guard Devin Booker (back), veteran Jae Crowder (ankle) and All-Star point guard Chris Paul (right thumb injury management).

The Clippers’ Luke Kennard was a late scratch with a sore right hamstring.

Lue brought Powell off the bench in his first game back, but the coach said he planned to experiment with rotations in the third-to-last game of the season, eager to see how and with whom Powell fits.

“He’s ready to go, so just excited to get him back,” Lue said. “Now we just gotta figure out our rotations and who plays well with who and we might see some different combinations in the first half than we did in the second half, so just trying to figure it out.”