2015 NBA playoff scores: The Spurs are scary when Kawhi Leonard is on fire and 3 other things we learned Friday

Kawhi Leonard can take over a basketball game, plus three other things we learned Friday.

by Liam Boylan-Pett

Apr 25, 2015, 12:00 PM UTC

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

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NBA Friday: Spurs demolish Clippers; Rockets, Wizards up 3-0

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Kawhi Leonard played great in the first half of Game 3 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Clippers. He had 16 points as his Spurs led, 46-38. Then, he really turned it on. Leonard scored 13 of the Spurs' first 15 points in the third quarter to blow open the lead over the Clippers and San Antonio never looked back, pulling away to a dominating 100-73 win.

Now up 2-1 in the series, they’ll have a chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead if they can beat the Clippers again on Sunday in San Antonio. Leonard ended the night with 32 points on 13-of-18 shooting with four rebounds and two blocks.

At halftime, It seemed as if the Clippers were going to make it a game -- they trailed by only eight despite poor shooting. But the Spurs weren’t great in the first half, either. They were getting good looks against a lackluster Clippers defense, but they missed quite a few open shots. They started to fall in the second half. Once Leonard caught fire, the rest of the Spurs did, too.

Well, not every Spurs' player. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker combined for just 10 points in the blowout win. Only three Spurs scored in double figures -- Leonard, Boris Diaw (15), and Danny Green (11) -- but in all, 12 Spurs scored.

The Clippers, meanwhile, couldn't get anything going. Chris Paul had just seven points and four assists as Blake Griffin led the team with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

For the Spurs, it was all Leonard. The game ran through him. He played great perimeter defense on Paul and led the Spurs on offense. Plus, he did this:

Leonard not only filled up the stat sheet, he was also making impossible plays. All Green had to do was toss this ball in the vicinity of Leonard and he was going to grab it and flush it down in one swoop. If the reigning Finals MVP continues to play like this, he might have another award to add to his mantle.

3 other things we learned

No one wanted to play defense in Dallas. The Houston Rockets beat the Dallas Mavericks 130-128 in a game where offense ruled the day. The shorthanded Mavericks almost stole a win from the Rockets down the stretch -- they were down by double digits in the fourth quarter, but had to rely on the clutch play of James Harden in the final minute to seal the victory (see play of the night below). Harden had 42 points and nine assists for the Rockets, who have a 3-0 lead and are ready to move on to the second round in Sunday's Game 4.

John Wall can do mean things with the basketball. The Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors, 106-99, to take a 3-0 series lead. Wall had 19 points and 15 assists, and he did so by playing beautiful, how-did-he-do-that? basketball.

Wall was great, but Paul Pierce took over down the stretch. He had 18 points on the night, and 11 of them came in the fourth quarter. With the Atlanta Hawks looking beatable and the Wizards rolling through the Raptors, that second-round matchup might be more intriguing than we thought when the playoffs first started.

The Clippers chose a bad night to have their worst offensive performance of the season. Not only were the Spurs pretty fantastic on the offensive side of the ball. They held the Clippers to 73 points on Friday. This is a team that averaged 106.7 points per game in the regular season. Against a team like the San Antonio who is going to get open looks -- the Spurs even missed a few that allowed the Clippers to stay close in the first half -- Los Angeles cannot afford to shoot just 34.1 percent from the field. Even worse, they were just 6-of-23 from behind the arc. If they play anything like this on Sunday, they could be headed home facing a 3-1 deficit.

Play of the night

The Rockets shouldn’t have needed a clutch bucket in the final minute of their win over the Mavericks, but at least they had James Harden to take the shot. And at least the rim was kind to him.