If Kawhi Leonard keeps this up for the Clippers, the West needs to watch out

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When Kawhi Leonard is at his best, he looks almost frictionless. He maneuvers through the typical traffic and trammels of an NBA basketball court as if nothing anyone else does is all that relevant to his comings and goings.

Leonard finds the ball, determines his destination and begins navigation — fastest route possible, please, no time to savor the scenery. He picks the spot on the floor where he wants to be, and he just … gets there. Once he arrives, chances are he’s going to rise straight up, an arrow pointed directly at the rafters, and promptly deposit the ball in the net, free of the surly bonds of quotidian concerns like “defenders” and “coverages.”

If you’re having trouble envisioning it — somewhat understandable, as the six-time All-NBA selection and two-time NBA Finals MVP has missed 43 games this season and 299 since 2017, including the entire 2021-22 campaign — it looks an awful lot like what he did to the New York Knicks in the second half on Wednesday night:

After falling down by as many as 14 points in the first half, Leonard’s Clippers stormed back to score 72 points on 42 shot attempts after intermission — a scorching 1.57 points per possession — en route to a 126-113 road win. Leonard led the charge, scoring 19 of his 27 points after halftime, calmly and decisively dismantling whichever defenders Tom Thibodeau sent his way; he added 10 rebounds and seven assists without a turnover in a season-high 41 minutes for good measure.

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The right-block mastery, the terror-inducing jab steps out of the triple threat, the metronomically consistent stop-and-pop jumpers from the midrange — it was all there. And it, along with stellar contributions up and down what’s become one of the league’s better bench rotations, was more than enough to bury a Knicks team playing on the second night of a back-to-back without injured superstar point guard Jalen Brunson.

It’s been enough more and more frequently of late for the Clippers, who have now won nine of their last 11 to rise into sixth place in the West, with victories over the playoff-bound Cavaliers, Knicks, Grizzlies…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/if-kawhi-leonard-keeps-this-up-for-the-clippers-the-west-needs-to-watch-out-173644138.html

Author : Dan Devine

Publish date : 2025-03-27 17:36:00

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