The Portland Trail Blazers won a big game against the LA Clippers on Tuesday night despite the strong recent play of Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland coming into the contest. While Deni Avdija was his usual star self, the Blazers got a much-needed boost from Jrue Holiday in the win.

Holiday finished the six rebounds, two assists, and two steals on 10-of-21 shooting from the field and 7-of-15 from three. It was not only his scoring offensively, but the job he did defensively on guys like Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland.

In the Blazers' 114-104 victory, Portland held Leonard to 23 points , eight rebounds, and three assists while forcing three turnovers.

Leonard has scored 20+ points in 52 consecutive games, and has been on an absolute tear since late November, averaging 29 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.9 steals while shooting 50.5 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from three.

“I did okay,” Jrue Holiday said what it was like to defend Kawhi Leonard throughout the night. “Kawhi is… Kawhi is good. And obviously his pump fake is so realistic. He caught me on the pump fake in the 1st half, but the way that he plays is always fun. I love matching up with him.”

In his first 13 games with the Clippers since being acquired at the NBA trade deadline, Darius Garland had been averaging 21.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting an absurd 51 percent from the field and 51 percent from three.

Garland scored 20 points in Tuesday night's loss with two rebounds, and four assists, but turned the ball over five times and committed four fouls while picking up a technical foul from the bench. He also shot just 7-of-17 from the field in the game.

“He's quick, he's shifty,” Holiday added. “You can't really guess on what he's going to do. You can try to react to what he's going to do, but he's fast enough to go by you. It definitely takes a team effort. And then he can shoot the three-ball, he has a floater, definitely a three-level scorer, so honestly, he's just really hard to guard.”

Now in his 17th season in the NBA, Jrue Holiday is averaging 16.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 45.8 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from three.

Tuesday night's game was of major significance as the Clippers and Blazers attempt to avoid the 9-10 play-in game, which will likely be against the Golden State Warriors. The Clippers entered the game 1.5 games up on the Blazers for the eighth seed and already won the first two games in the season series.

The Portland win now places the Blazers just a half-game behind the Clippers with another game still remaining next Friday back at the Moda Center. Aside from that, the Clippers still have teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs while the Blazers have teams like the Spurs and Denver Nuggets ahead.