Kawhi Leonard spoke up after a career-high 55-point night

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Kawhi Leonard he continued his a red-hot scoring streak and extended the LA Clippers’ winning streak to four on Sunday night. Facing the Detroit Pistons who entered the contest as the best team in the Eastern Conference, Leonard wanted his Clippers to another victory behind a new 55 career points.

Leonard scored 25 points in the first half, followed by 26 points in the third quarter to score 51 points as the Clippers took a 92-69 lead with the rest of the quarter.

“I just stayed hot in that third (quarter), Tyronn Lue ended up having those extra four minutes,” Kawhi Leonard said after the win. “I don’t know what I had at that point, but he saw I had a hot hand, he kept me in, and then the bullets kept coming.”

Leonard returned late in the fourth quarter, and the Pistons went on a small run, scoring four points to tie the game. James Harden‘s franchise tied 55 points and set a new career high.

The Clippers star finished 17-of-26 from the field, 5-of-10 from three and 16-of-17 from the free throw line. His missed free throw snapped a streak of 64 consecutive free throws and would have given him a new franchise record.

“T-Lue told me about it, but I’d rather play another game than go out there and risk it (for the record),” Leonard said. “I hope we can get another win and be in the same situation, but that’s how it is.”

“It was exciting to play the game tonight. But the most exciting thing was to win. They kept coming down and shooting. Cade (Cunningham) was great down the stretch. It’s always an honor to do something legendary.”

Kawhi Leonard won Player of the Week honors on Monday afternoon as he led his Clippers team to a 3-0 week, averaging 41.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 58 percent from the field and 509 percent from three.

Tyronn Lue said he continued to play Leonard outside of his normal rotation minutes in the third quarter when his star got hot.

“We need it,” Lue explained. “We needed it. He played at a high level, and for us to have 55 tonight on 26 shots, attacking the basket, attacking the rim, stealing, defensively, I thought he was really good, too. He wanted this game for us.”

The win makes it four straight for the Clippers against teams that have played some of the best basketball in the league. On each game day, the Clippers defeated the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, the sixth-seeded Houston Rockets, the 10th-seeded Portland Trail Blazers, and the first-seeded Detroit Pistons.

The Clippers continue their five-game homestand against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.