He didn’t want to talk about his best game of the season, about how he was a force, about how he played at such a high level.
The game wasn’t about his season-high 33 points, Kawhi Leonard said. It wasn’t about how he played nearly 40 minutes or his season-high 10 rebounds.
For Leonard, the game was just a reminder of the Clippers’ struggles since the All-Star break.
Even with Leonard playing arguably his best game of the season, the Clippers lost 108-102 to the Lakers on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“Just got to get better,” Leonard. “It’s not about individual accolades. We got to get a team win. And I think I said we got to limit our mistakes and hopefully the ball falls for us in the future.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, however, had high praise for Leonard. He liked that Leonard had four offensive rebounds and how he played with purpose.
“When he’s trusting, he’s going to the offensive glass,” Lue said. “You saw him crash and explode for some offensive rebounds. Having 10 rebounds, that’s what I kind of look at when I gauge how Kawhi is playing, if he’s rebounding the basketball. And he did that well tonight, along with scoring the basketball. So, like I said, he’s coming, starting to get his legs, starting to feel better and we’re going to need that.”
The Clippers have lost five of six games since the break.
They are still sixth in the Western Conference, but are tied with the Golden State Warriors at 32-28. And the Minnesota Timberwolves (33-29), Sacramento Kings (31-28) and Dallas Mavericks (32-29) are right on their heels for the final guaranteed playoff spot.
“Just got to keep fighting,” Leonard said. “Got to stay focused each and every game and try to limit our mistakes.”
The Clippers had a horrible end to the second quarter, not scoring for the final 7 minutes 35 seconds, falling behind 13 points by halftime. They trailed by as much as 21 points in the third quarter.
But Leonard scored 10 points in the fourth, including a three-pointer that got the Clippers to within five points with 1:40 left.
The Clippers didn’t score again.
“We got down 21 tonight. I liked our fight to come back, didn’t give in,” Lue said. “Being able to play through adversity. Being able to play through missed shots. So, I give our guys credit for that. But it’s a long season. It’s a hard season. Every night is going to be a tough game and we understand that.”
Injuries hurt the Clippers
The Clippers seemingly made a step toward becoming fully healthy Sunday when leading scorer Norman Powell returned, only for the veteran guard to leave in the first quarter because of right hamstring soreness.
Powell played nine minutes and scored four points. He missed the previous five games because of a left knee injury (patellar tendinopathy).
“He’s going to get re-evaluated tomorrow,” Lue said.
The Clippers also didn’t have role player Derrick Jones Jr. (right groin strain) and Ben Simmons (left knee soreness) against the Lakers. Lue said Simmons is considered day to day.
