OKLAHOMA CITY _ With their gaze fixed fully on the playoffs for months, the Los Angeles Clippers have been guilty of appearing uninterested at times during the regular season.
It was why some within the team had looked ahead, with heightened interest, to a five-game stretch from late February to early March. The trade deadline would be over, the buyout market scoured, the roster all but set and games against Denver, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, Houston and the Los Angeles Lakers figured to present a litmus test of their preparedness, continuity and rhythm ahead of the postseason.
Three games into that run, the Clippers like what they see.
From the very first possession Tuesday inside Chesapeake Energy Arena, when Paul George's crossover left his Thunder defender standing still, then whipped a pass to an open Patrick Beverley for a corner three-pointer, the Clippers displayed lethal precision en route to a 109-94 rout of Oklahoma City.
The victory followed a 29-point stomping of Denver on Friday and a six-point win against short-handed Philadelphia on Sunday.
Kawhi Leonard's 25 points led the Clippers (42-19), who won their fifth consecutive game by flexing their considerable might at both ends en route to dismantling Oklahoma City (37-24) in what could be a preview of a first-round postseason matchup.
Such a series would continue to link the franchises whose July 5 trade, which sent George to the Clippers and Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and years of draft picks to the Thunder, instantly installed the Clippers as championship contenders.
They haven't always played to that level this season, while the Thunder, after a slow start, have become one of the league's biggest overachievers behind Chris Paul, another former Clipper. Coach Doc Rivers referred to the home team as "Clippers Southwest" before tipoff Tuesday.
Yet the Thunder, who lost by 47 to league-leading Milwaukee on Friday, were outmatched against a title contender revving up for the postseason for a second consecutive game, and it was evident in the close to each of the first three quarters.
A swarming defensive effort created an eight-point Clippers lead in only six minutes, and that was only the warmup.
Over the next four minutes, Oklahoma City made only two field goals as its deficit grew to 13.
When the Thunder bench, led by guard Dennis Schroder, found holes against Clippers reserves that hadn't existed against the starters, Oklahoma City's deficit was trimmed midway through the second quarter to just one on a pull-up jumper by Gilgeous-Alexander.
The arena, already one of the league's loudest, rumbled as hundreds of fans behind each basket banged together inflatable sticks colored orange and blue. Then the whole place went quiet: Over the next four minutes, the Clippers walled off any crevices of room near their basket and scored 16 unanswered points to open a lead that would stand at 12 by halftime.
And after their third-quarter lead was cut to nine with 5:45 to play, the Clippers began a methodical 20-10 run to close the quarter.
George and backup center Montrezl Harrell scored 16 points apiece and Lou Williams added 14 off the bench for the Clippers, who shot 46%.
Schroder's 24 points off the bench led the Thunder, who also received 15 points from Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Clippers received a scare in the third quarter when Harrell fell to the ground in pain while fighting for a rebound and stayed on the court long enough that Rivers and teammate Ivica Zubac came off the bench to check on him. Harrell hobbled off the court under his own power, favoring a leg, but didn't enter the locker room. He returned to the game at the fourth quarter's start but tweaked the same leg again with 5:42 to play and left the game for good.
His absence did not create an opening for a comeback. Oklahoma City's chances had been snuffed out long before.
