Clippers defeat Grizzlies while Kawhi Leonard’s return date remains a mystery
Kawhi Leonard has yet to be cleared to return to playing, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before Friday’s 117-106 win against Memphis, despite the team listing Leonard as questionable as he missed the last four games because of his left hip contusion.
When Leonard was hit by the knee of Dallas’ Grant Williams late in a win on Dec. 20, it aggravated a hip injury Leonard first sustained Dec. 8 at Utah, Lue said, when Leonard tumbled after being fouled.
“He aggravated it then and played through it, and then the Dallas game just kind of took it over the top,” Lue said.
On Thursday, Lue said Leonard would practice “a little bit” as the team prepared for Friday’s home game against Memphis. But before tipoff, Lue said Leonard had not participated, instead working out afterward.
“He’s getting better but he’s not cleared to play,” Lue said.
Any injury to Leonard is watched closely with the team considering his history, which included most recently the meniscus he tore last April that ended his season. Yet Leonard had proven especially durable by averaging 34.5 minutes while playing this season’s first 27 games — including four sets on consecutive nights. It marked the most consecutive games Leonard had played to begin a season since 2016-17.
Leonard is averaging 24.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists while making 56% of his shots inside the three-point arc and 42% beyond it. In the month of December he’d been even more productive, making 50% of his three-pointers.
Despite the absence of Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers pulled together to play strong defense in the fourth quarter of a 113-104 win over the Hornets.
“We know it’s going to take some time to get Kawhi back into the lineup, so going into it, we know what’s at hand and what we got to do, it’s not something that’s surprising,” Paul George said of the team adjusting to Leonard’s absence.
George added he was not concerned about Kawhi’s injury.
“He’s looking good, he’s looking better and better, but, you know, we know it’s nothing serious,” George said. “He’s going to get through it when his body is back to where it needs to be but, again, our job is just to continue going at the level we’re going. We’re playing great basketball in the month of December.”
With the win against Memphis, the Clippers (19-12) are 2-2 without Leonard. They finished December 11-2.
Needing to compensate for Leonard’s production again, the Clippers received 16 points and 13 assists from James Harden but needed to play him 43 minutes after they struggled to hold on to their 21-point, fourth-quarter lead. George added 23 points on one of his most uneven nights as he made eight of 21 shots. Memphis’ Ja Morant scored 19 points with 10 assists in his fifth game since returning from a suspension, but made only seven of 19 shots.
Harden made four of his first five shots and lobbed alley-oops to Russell Westbrook, soaring along the baseline, and a rim-running Daniel Theis on consecutive second-quarter possessions. The second extended the Clippers’ lead to 15, their largest , before it evaporated over the next seven minutes. The Clippers rebuilt their advantage to 15 in the third quarter, repeatedly targeting Memphis big man Xavier Tillman, who started the second half after a lineup change. By the third quarter, Harden had his season’s sixth double-double, and center Ivica Zubac his 11th; he finished with 20 rebounds and 15 points.
George, in contrast to Harden, struggled to get into the flow. When he missed a shot at the rim — one of few taken that close on a night full of jump shots — early in the third quarter to fall to one for 11, he let out a brief but seemingly exasperated laugh. Yet after he made a double-clutch three-pointer while falling into the lap of courtside spectators as the quarter’s buzzer rang, he had made five of six shots as teammates enveloped him.
Memphis was playing for the second consecutive night, but it was the Clippers who were sloppier in the fourth quarter. Their 21-point lead shrank to eight at three junctures behind a lagging transition defense, questionable jump-shot selection and seven turnovers. They had 18 turnovers overall, leading to 24 points for the Grizzlies.
George fouled out with 1:35 to play. Westbrook scored 14 points, with six rebounds and six assists.
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