
LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard performed 47 minutes in Sunday’s additional time win over the Golden State Warriors within the last day of the common season. Leonard made his emotions clear on the Clippers’ playoff targets heading into their first-round matchup towards Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
Chatting with reporters after the sport, Leonard was completely happy along with his efficiency within the Clippers’ 124-119 win. He had 33 factors, six rebounds, seven assists and three steals on 13-for-20 taking pictures. He is trying ahead to their collection towards the Nuggets, however he is simply hoping to have a wholesome postseason.
“It felt good,” Leonard mentioned, based on Clippers beat reporter Joey Linn. “I am completely happy that I had an incredible group behind me to permit me to get wholesome and know precisely what I wanted to do. Them letting me attain out to outdoors sources and mixing collectively and collabbing. It isn’t over but, we nonetheless received a playoff collection to attempt to win. Simply wanna maintain going from there, simply have a very good playoffs and have a wholesome offseason and simply maintain going.”
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The LA Clippers wanted the win to keep away from falling into the NBA Play-In Match. They outlasted a Golden State Warriors crew that had an opportunity to tie the sport with lower than 30 seconds left in additional time, however Draymond Inexperienced missed an open layup.
Kawhi Leonard and James Harden confirmed up for the Clippers, proving that they’re a darkish horse within the Western Convention. They’ve a tough first-round matchup towards Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, however a latest turmoil within the type of firing coach Michael Malone could possibly be useful to the Steve Ballmer-owned franchise.
The Clippers and Nuggets had the identical document of 50-32, together with the LA Lakers, however the purple and gold owned the tiebreaker. The Nuggets then owned the tiebreaker towards the Clippers, although they break up their season collection with two wins every.
Kawhi Leonard trying to have his first wholesome playoffs since 2020

The final time Kawhi Leonard had a wholesome playoff run was in 2020 contained in the NBA bubble. Nonetheless, they didn’t get out of the Western Convention semifinals after blowing a 3-1 collection lead towards the Denver Nuggets. His final nice postseason run was in 2019 when he led the Toronto Raptors to the championship.
Leonard’s 2021 playoffs ended with {a partially} torn ACL that required surgical procedure. The Clippers made their first-ever Western Convention Finals however got here up brief towards the Phoenix Suns. The Klaw missed the whole 2021-22 season earlier than returning the next marketing campaign.
The Clippers made the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, however he performed simply two video games in every year. He tore his meniscus in his proper knee in 2023, whereas irritation on the identical knee stored him out in 2024.