INGLEWOOD — Dear basketball gods,
I’m a sportswriter; I don’t ask for much beyond quickly played games on deadline. Serviceable quotes, too, if you’d be so benevolent.
But just this time, I’m trying to see something.
I’m trying to see Playoff Kawhi.
Trying to see what this Clippers organization is actually capable of with a healthy Kawhi Leonard, and to be able to judge this group fairly.
And, like everyone else, I’m really trying to see this man get to the offseason healthy, for his sake. It would be for the first time since the Clippers were ignominiously booted from the pandemic bubble in 2020, what feels like a long, long time ago in a land – Orlando, Florida – far, far away.
Obviously, sure, some fans in L.A. want to see all that a lot more than others do. Get that.
But c’mon, everybody. You know Kevin Durant was right when he said: “The league is better when Kawhi Leonard is playing.”
And lately? Leonard has been playing like a headliner at Coachella, an act that anyone with good taste – or deep-seated nostalgia – would stay up late to see.
The 33-year-old forward from Moreno Valley was just named the Western Conference Player of the Week for his output between March 31 and April 6, when he averaged averaged 24.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and shot 51.3% from the field and 38.1% from 3-point range. Also, the Clippers – in their surprise chase for home-court advantage in the first round of the postseason – went 4-0.
Compare that to where things stood with Leonard at this time one season ago, when it was all pins and needles for ever-hopeful Clippers fans.
They wanted so badly to hear what they wanted to hear when Coach Tyronn Lue answered a question about whether there was concern his star’s knee inflammation could bleed into the playoffs: “No, not as of right now.”
It did, unfortunately, bleed into the postseason. Leonard played only 59 minutes over two games before the Clippers shelved him indefinitely in their dispiriting first-round exit vs. Dallas.
And Leonard was lost for months, an extended absence that turned out to be … great.
Truly, hopefully, positive.
The Clippers (47-32) started 19-15 without him, and when he returned on Jan. 4, they reintegrated him patiently, responsibly. I dare say, at this point, everyone understood – even your foremost “load management” skeptics.
Because two seasons ago – Leonard’s first since recovering from the torn right ACL – the Clippers’ haphazard approach to the regular season seemed to zap their hero’s health bar when they piled onto his back for a late-season playoff push. He was shut down before Game 3 in a first-round series that went the Phoenix Suns’ way.
And the last time around, in an effort to prove they were Taking the Regular Season Seriously, they leaned on Leonard exorbitantly in the middle of the schedule. So by the time they needed him to be peaking, he was shuffling, hanging on the rim during a playoff game in Dallas for dear life, wanting to delay the uncomfortable impact that awaited when he did let go.
Smarter for those experiences, it seems, this season the Clippers look like they have calculated correctly. They did right by their “don’t-skip-steps” guy, who’s sure having fun now.
How can we tell?
“I always say, the way he’s dribbling the ball,” said Nicolas Batum, the Clippers’ veteran forward. “You can see, when he’s like – boom! – pounding the ball, yeah, OK, he’s in.”
“When he gets to his spots and he has that pop – and also, the rebounding,” Lue said. “When he rebounds the basketball at a high level, you can tell he’s feeling good.”
Rejoicing in rebounding averages: In his past 10 games, Leonard has been pulling down an average of 7.4 rebounds per game – 2.1 more per contest than before March 20.
Justin Russo, one of the mainstays on the Clippers’ beat, said for him, it’s Leonard’s defense. You know, seeing the Klaws come out. Might not be a perfect metric, but still: Leonard’s defensive rating before March 20 was 109.2. Since then: 103.5.
Not coincidentally, then, the Clippers have won 10 of their past 11 games when Leonard played.
Really, though, the telltale sign is probably that bounce – not his so much as the ball’s.
“The way he dribbles,” said Kobe Brown, a young forward on the Clippers. “He dribbles as hard as he can, like he’s trying to break the floor.”
Break the floor and raise the Clippers’ ceiling significantly. Even historically?
“We have unwavering belief in what we can do and what we can achieve with everybody healthy,” Clippers guard Norman Powell told me after Tuesday’s 122-117 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, their 15th win in the past 18 games. “I think we can make a deep playoff run and get to the Finals and win a championship.”
And don’t just take the Clippers’ word for it.
“[Leonard is] one of the few that when he’s on, there is not much (an opponent) can do in terms of scheme or coverage or ‘we’re going to take this away,’” Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson said before his team faced the Clippers without Kawhi, who didn’t need to further burden his knees on the front half of this back-to-back set.
“He gets to his spots and is unbothered as much as almost any other player in the league. It’ll be fun to see him in the playoffs and on this team … someone is going to have to beat them four times. And good luck to that team.”
And better luck to the Clippers too; hopefully there are some hoops deities out there who can, for once, guard them from ill-timed injury.
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