Kawhi Leonard was back on an NBA court Tuesday, jogging between shots, flicking the ball with his right wrist with ease.
In pregame warmups.
Two hours before tipoff in San Francisco’s Chase Center, the All-Star and former NBA Finals MVP who hasn’t played a game since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on June 14 caught passes from a team staffer and fired three-pointers as part of a workout that produced snippets of video that pinged around the internet, leading Clippers fans to again do the math. Leonard underwent surgery not quite eight months ago, about one month before athletes with his injury generally return to playing. The postseason begins in five weeks.
Reticent all season discussing the prognosis or progress of his injured headliners Leonard, Paul George and Norman Powell, coach Tyronn Lue offered no update on what Leonard’s shooting meant for his probability to return, though he did say that Leonard has yet to be cleared to play against contact.
None of those three have been publicly ruled out for a return this season. But the calvary also isn’t coming — not yet, anyway. And while the Clippers have gutted through most of the season without their stars, it was not the case in a 112-97 loss to the Warriors.
Since winning two emotionally charged games against the Lakers and three against the overmatched, youthful Houston Rockets, the Clippers have lost two straight and looked flat for six of their last eight quarters.
“We can’t stop playing the right way and don’t think we’ve done that the last two games,” Nicolas Batum said.
Outside of Sunday’s third quarter that cut their deficit to the Knicks from 26-12, and Tuesday’s fourth, when reserves trimmed a once-29-point Warriors lead to 11 with 4:41 to play, they have been unable to match the desperate energy of New York, on Sunday, and Golden State, opponents that badly needed victories to interrupt their respective slides in the standings.
Along with the return of the often minutes-long scoring droughts that have plagued this offense since George’s December injury — three minutes remained in the first half when the Clippers broke 30 points — Tuesday was a reminder of just how much for the Clippers precariously rests on point guard Reggie Jackson igniting the offense. Jackson made two of his 14 shots for five points and didn’t reach the free-throw line for the first time in six games.
Though the Clippers’ surge since the Feb. 10 trade deadline was spurred by contributions from up and down the roster, Jackson has always shouldered the heaviest scoring burden while shooting 39% for the season. The Clippers are now 13-21 when he has shot worse than his season average, a reflection of a short-handed roster’s struggle to compensate for yet another scoring loss.
Batum’s 17 points led the Clippers. He took five free throws, as many as he’d attempted in his previous 14 games combined.
In the rout the Warriors, just 14-14 since defensive catalyst Draymond Green injured his back in early January, didn’t even need their well-rested shooting stars, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, to have out-of-body experiences. Thompson scored 20 points, but made nine of his 23 shots. Curry was held to 15 points, making just one of his six three-point attempts.
It was sixth man Jordan Poole, who scored 13 of his 20 points during a second quarter in which the Warriors turned a tie game into an 18-point halftime lead, with two of his baskets allowed by defensive miscommunications.
And it was Andrew Wiggins, with 14 points and 11 rebounds, who drew a charge on Marcus Morris Sr., grabbed a defensive rebound and followed with a layup of his own all within the first two minutes of the second half to push the lead to 24.
Morris finished with 11 points on 11 shots.
The Clippers (34-33) left Sunday’s loss to New York saying their lacking energy would be on their mind as they prepared for this game, but effort was never the problem.
Crisp ball movement in the third quarter found Luke Kennard — this season’s most accurate three-point shooter on at least 100 attempts — and Morris open in each corner, but they missed in scenes typical of a game where they made 26% of their shots before halftime and just four of their 20 three-point tries.
The Clippers finished 33 for 93 shooting overall.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
