Kawhi Leonard's big game powers Clippers to thrilling Game 2 win

Staff Writer

April 21, 2025 Updated 11:06 PM PT

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DENVER — There was a moment late in Game 2 when Kawhi Leonard leaned over, looking down at the court, exhausted from all the work he was putting in for the Clippers.

But Leonard didn’t let fatigue stop him, his will and spirit leading the Clippers to a 105-102 win over the Denver Nuggets on Monday night to even the best-of-seven playoff series at 1-1.

Leonard finished with 39 points in 39 minutes. He was 15 for 19 from the field, his jumper with 54.5 seconds left providing the final margin of victory. He also had a key steal in the final minute off a bad pass from Nikola Jokic.

“It’s difficult,” Leonard said about the energy it takes to play in an NBA game. “Like I said, playing here, playing against this great team, they got great players, know their roles. ... Any NBA game is very hard to play, especially in the playoffs. It might look easy by just watching us and seeing how skilled we are. But these games are hard to play. You got to play every possession every minute.”

The game wasn’t decided until Denver’s Christian Braun missed a three-pointer and Jokic, who had a triple-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, missed a three with one second left.

Game 3 is Thursday night at the Intuit Dome.

“I thought Kawhi willed us to a win,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.

Denver’s Jamal Murray, who had 26 points, tied the score at 100 on a three-pointer with 2:05 left. Michael Porter Jr. rebounded a miss by Leonard, but Porter turned it over with 1:35 left.

Norman Powell then drilled a three-pointer to give the Clippers a 103-100 lead with 1:30 left, forcing the Nuggets to call time out. Jokic, who had seven turnovers, then made two free throws to make it a one-point game.

But Leonard made sure the Clippers wouldn’t have a repeat of Game 1, when they failed to hold a late lead and lost in overtime. He scored the game’s final basket on a 21-foot jumper with 54 seconds left.

“This is what Kawhi lives for,” Lue said. “He’s trying to get to this point where he’s healthy for the playoffs. So we know if we got a healthy Kawhi, we can win any series. That just shows you tonight what he’s capable of doing.”

Ivica Zubac finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Powell had 13 points.

The game figured to turn testy after all the physical play between the teams, and things got heated between Powell and Murray in the third quarter. Murray felt Powell pushed him coming off a screen to get free. When Murray caught up to Powell across the court, the two were face to face, and Murray grabbed Powell and picked him up. That led to Kris Dunn and Braun getting into a confrontation, the two exchanging words.

After a review by the officials, Dunn, Powell and Braun were called for technical fouls. It was all settled with Murray shooting a free throw.

“I thought we responded well,” Lue said. “It actually got Norm going. He made three shots after that. Jamal said he was just competing. It wasn’t anything dirty. Just playing hard and competing. When you are in the playoffs, if things like this don’t happen, then I don’t know if you are playing hard enough. So, it’s going to happen.”

Leonard was playing hard from the start, giving the Clippers his all, refusing to let anything get in his way. At the end of the first half he calmly drilled a three-pointer just before the buzzer, giving the Clippers a 55-52 halftime lead. Leonard had 21 points while playing all 24 minutes of the first half, missing just one of 10 shots.

“It felt like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden, who had 18 points, said about Leonard. “His shot-making ability is elite. That’s the aggressiveness that we need from him. No matter what’s going on, no matter who is guarding him, he just got to his spot and raised up. So, big-time player. He played big-time tonight.”