Clippers and their fans show their ‘L.A. Strong’ support during victory over Miami

Clippers players wore T-shirts with the words “L.A. STRONG” on them, and Clippers public address announcer Eric Smith delivered a pregame speech, offering encouragement to those affected by the devastating fires ravaging Los Angeles.

“The smoke will lift and they will return and rebuild because this is L.A., and today we all stand together — one team, one Los Angeles,” Smith told the Intuit Dome crowd.

The Clippers then played their first game since Wednesday, looking sluggish and falling behind by 13 points in the first half.

Read more: Kawhi-less Clippers are routed by the Jokic-less Nuggets

But the Clippers surged in the third quarter, taking control behind a strong defense and the play of James Harden and Norman Powell to pull out a 109-98 win over Miami.

Powell finished with 29 points and six rebounds and Harden had 26 points and 11 assists. The Clippers also got a dominant performance from center Ivica Zubac, who had a 20-20 game with 21 points and 20 rebounds. It was his second career game with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds.

Harden had 13 of his 26 points in the third quarter, including a floater to beat the buzzer that gave the Clippers an 11-point lead they never surrendered. Powell had 11 of his 29 points in the third.

The Clippers (21-17) scored 36 points in the third on 55.5% shooting from the field. But they were even more impressive on defense, holding the Heat to 20 points on 38.1% shooting.

For Kawhi Leonard, it was just his third game back after missing the first 34 games of the season with inflammation in his right knee. Leonard played in two games and then missed Wednesday’s game against Denver to return home to Los Angeles to take care of his family after the wildfires broke out Tuesday night.

Leonard played 20 minutes 44 seconds, scoring six points on three-for-nine shooting, including missing all three of his three-point attempts. Under a minutes restriction, he didn’t play in the fourth quarter.

Miami All-Star center Bam Adebayo (back contusion) did not play for Miami (20-18).

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.