LOS ANGELES — After missing all of last season, Kawhi Leonard decided to wait a bit before returning to the Los Angeles Clippers, making him a highly anticipated player.
Leonard, who joined the team for the first time, decided not to start, hoping to make the most of his limited playing time. He finally finished when the Clippers beat the Los Angeles Lakers again. Leonard scored 14 points, including a 21-foot jumper with 52.3 seconds left, in a 103-97 victory at the Crypto.com Arena.
The Clippers beat their rivals in the lineout for the eighth consecutive time, despite the fact that the players of their team did not enter the game until 6:25 of the second quarter and played three minutes for a total of 21 minutes.
“It’s been a long time,” Leonard said of his anticipation of the game. “But I waited 82 games last year, so I didn’t expect 15 minutes to be that long.”
In Game 1, after tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament in Game 4 of the second round against the Utah Jazz on June 14, 2021, Leonard is on the bench for the first time since playing for the San Antonio Spurs in November 2013.
Leonard said he decided not to start the playoffs after checking the data and running simulations in practice. They want to maximize his return minutes, get him on the floor and finish the game in the highest scoring stages.
“When I started, I sat for 35 minutes in real time,” Leonard said of starting and still being able to finish the game. “It is too long. So I just think it’s the best scenario. But we’ll see how things go.”
Finally back on the court, Leonard wasted no time. He buried his first two shots, both from medium range, where he often likes to act.
“The first [Leonard] got the bounce, went coast to coast and hit his little patent fade,” John Wall, 15, said in his first game since April 23, 2021. Threw 7 out of 7 and scored 15 points in 24 minutes. “For him, it’s all about rhythm and rhythm.
“He is like a machine, he works on his stuff, he sticks to what he wants to do. And he basically takes it as a workout. He doesn’t seem to see anyone in front of him. It’s all about him. disappearance or shooting.”
Leonard’s three-pointers have no rhythm and he’s 1-for-4 from the field. But he made some key moves, getting attacked by LeBron James late in the fourth quarter and hitting a jumper with less than a minute left after the Lakers closed a 15-point lead in the second half. point buffer.
“I’ve done this before,” Leonard said as he stepped off the bench. “That’s how I started my career. Here’s how I approached it mentally. Acting like I was in trouble and as soon as I signed in the second quarter it was time to play basketball.”
Leonard admitted that he may not play at least one of the back-to-back games in Sacramento and at home against Phoenix this weekend.
“You have to play minute by minute gradually to strengthen the anterior cruciate ligament,” Leonard said. “Once you start playing the first 38-minute game, it can easily get weaker, but I listen to the doctor.
As for how long he plans to play off the bench, Leonard said he may need to increase his minutes to around the 34.1 minutes he averaged in the 2020-21 season.
“It’s all about how my knee responds,” Leonard said. “We’ll see how it goes tomorrow and then build up over time and I’ll start adding more minutes and once I’m ready to play 35 minutes – I think I’ve played 33 minutes when I’m healthy – that’s about in time you will see how I begin.”
Post time: Nov-03-2022