By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer
HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets have had their fill of Paul George this week, but the Clippers can’t get enough of their All-Star wing.
George scored 28 points, Marcus Morris added 21 points and 10 rebounds and the Clippers beat the Houston Rockets, 109-101, on Wednesday night.
It was the Clippers’ second win in a row over the Rockets after George had 38 points and hit a pair of huge baskets late in a 95-93 victory on Monday night, which snapped their four-game losing streak.
“It was a good win for us,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said or the rematch. “I knew they were going to come in and play hard. They’re an improved basketball team.”
As expected, the Clippers again were without Kawhi Leonard, who did not make the two-game Texas road trip because of stiffness in his surgically repaired right knee. It’s the fifth consecutive game he’s missed, and his time off will stretch to six games Friday when the team visits San Antonio.
Lue said he doesn’t love how the team has played with Leonard out and that it’s on him to help the players adjust to the All-Star forward’s absence. He added that they’ve looked better in the last two games than they did in the first few games Leonard missed.
“Since the two OKC games, we have made a good emphasis on attacking,” Lue said. “If we keep playing that way, we can get better.”
Alperen Sengun had 26 points and 13 rebounds and Jalen Green scored 22 points for the Rockets, who have dropped five straight since their only win this season.
The game featured the return of John Wall, who spent the past two seasons in Houston, but sat out all of last season with the Rockets unable to find a trade destination for the veteran.
Wall finished with six points, four assists and two steals in 15 minutes, and he had a highlight-reel play when he dribbled into the lane and made a behind-the-back pass to Moses Brown, who finished with a dunk for the first points of the fourth quarter.
The Clippers had a seven-point lead before using a 7-2 run (with four points and an assist by George) to make it 105-93 with three minutes left. Reggie Jackson got a steal at the end of that run and found George, who dished to Morris for a 3-pointer that capped the run.
The Rockets scored the next six points, but George made two free throws with about a minute left to make it 107-99. George finished 10 for 20 from the field (3 for 8 from 3-point range) and 5 for 6 from the free-throw line with five assists and four rebounds.
Lue raved about the play of Brown, who had 13 points and six rebounds off the bench.
“Moses came in and did a great job,” Lue said. “He really won the game for us just with his energy and the way he played.”
Neither team could get its offense going in the fourth quarter and they had combined for just seven points when a 3-pointer by Kevin Porter Jr. cut the lead to 90-85 with about eight minutes left.
The Clippers raced to a 23-5 lead, but the Rockets soon got going and cut the lead to 56-53 by halftime.
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“Spotting them at the first timeout 25 and then you’re climbing back all the way to tie it up and then you’ve got to be borderline perfect after that,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “That’s a tough way to start a game.”
A dunk by rookie Tari Eason got the Rockets within one with about two minutes left in the third. But the Clippers scored the last six points of the quarter, with four by Norman Powell, to lead 86-79 entering the fourth.
TIP-INS
Clippers: Leonard, who missed all last season recovering from a torn right ACL, played in two of the team’s first three games before he began having trouble with his knee. It’s unclear if he’ll return when the Clippers host Utah on Sunday.. … Nicolas Batum fouled out with about a minute left.
Rockets: Jae’Sean Tate missed a second straight game with a sore right ankle. … Porter had 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. … Houston was just 11 for 38 from 3-point range. … Sengun fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
The Clippers visit San Antonio on Friday at 5 p.m. PT.