The Los Angeles Clippers faced the Houston Rockets on Wednesday for the second leg of their two-game trip to Houston, losing the first contest 102-95 on Tuesday. Looking to stay as close to .500 as they can heading into the All-Star break, walking away with a loss on Wednesday was the last thing they needed.

Going up against a Rockets team that is at near full health, as the Clippers await the debut of Darius Garland, the Clippers were going to need everything they could get from their star, Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers did get some help from their supporting cast, but it was their lone All-Star representative who did the rest.

In the midst of a consecutive 20-point game streak, Kawhi Leonard entered halftime on Wednesday with just four points and the Clippers down 10 to the Rockets. He would add just four more points in the third quarter with the Clippers still trailing, but turned it up when it mattered most.

Leonard scored 19 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, shooting 60% from the field and delivering the game-winner over multiple Rockets defenders to lead LA to a 105-102 victory by the slimmest of margins.

“T [Tyrone] Lue gave me the ball at the top of the key," Leonard said of his game-winning shot. "Tried to get something going left, they sent the double team, so I spun, got to a spot, and shot over the top.”

One of the top clutch players in the NBA, Leonard didn't just clutch up a game-winner, but clutched up in his 20-point game streak to extend it to 33 games.

While he struggled in the first three quarters, Leonard admitted he couldn't even remember. “I didn’t even know. That’s the part of it. You got to keep shooting the basketball no matter what it is, and that’s what I did. I don’t care about makes or misses."

In addition to Leonard's 27-point, 12-rebound performance with four steals, the Clippers got 16 points from both Kris Dunn and Bennedict Mathurin, as the new addition to the team had his best game since coming over from Indiana in the Ivica Zubac trade.

The Clippers now head into the All-Star break with a 26-28 record, 2.5 games back of the Golden State Warriors for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. While climbing to the top six seeds would be ideal, nobody could've expected this kind of turnaround from the Clippers, regardless.

Once they welcome Garland back into the lineup alongside Leonard playing some of his best basketball, they might be a team that others in the West hope not to see in the first round.