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Hart's 30 Points Lead Lakers Past Clippers, 115-100, To End Season

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jason Hart set career highs with 30 points and seven 3-pointers, and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Clippers 115-100 on Wednesday night, closing out a fifth consecutive season without a playoff berth.

Two-way player Gary Payton II added a career-best 25 points off the bench as the Lakers beat their Staples Center co-tenant for the first time since April 4, 2012, as the visiting team. They went 35-47 under second-year coach Luke Walton.

Tobias Harris led the Clippers with 23 points. They ended the season with four straight losses, and finished with a 42-40 record although their streak of consecutive playoff appearances ended at six.

The Lakers led by nine at halftime and stretched it to 22 points in the third, when Hart scored 14 points, hitting three straight 3-pointers.

As a team, the Lakers tied their season high with 17 3-pointers, including three each by Payton, Alex Caruso and Brook Lopez.

The Lakers were held to 23 points in the fourth, but it hardly mattered since they took a 92-74 lead into the quarter.

A night after making his NBA debut, 32-year-old Lakers guard Andre Ingram scored five points on 2-of-9 shooting, including 1 of 4 from 3-point range, and had six assists and three rebounds in 35 minutes. Ingram, who played 10 seasons in the NBA's developmental league and is its career leader in 3-pointers, had 19 points with four 3s in Los Angeles' 105-99 loss to Houston on Tuesday night.

TIP-INS

Lakers: G Lonzo Ball ended his rookie season on the bench, having missed the final eight games with a left-knee contusion. In all, he missed 30 games due to injury. Ball averaged 10.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.2 assists in 34.2 minutes. ... The Lakers were 11-19 without Ball in the lineup. ... Fellow rookie F Kyle Kuzma missed the last three games with a sprained left ankle. He averaged 16.1 points and shot 70 percent from the free-throw line.

Clippers: G Lou Williams sat out his second straight game with a sprained right ankle. He averaged career highs in points (22.6), assists (5.3) and minutes (32.8). His bench scoring led the NBA in his 13th season. ... They won the season series 3-1. ... They had won 21 of 23 against the Lakers since 2012-13 by an average of 15 points. ... DeAndre Jordan joined the crowd singalong of "Sweet Caroline" during a timeout late in the game.

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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