LOS ANGELES — The LA Clippers went from believing they may be able to beat the Phoenix Suns to now questioning if they’ll have Kawhi Leonard again some time within the best-of-seven line.
Leonard used to be dominated out ahead of Recreation 3 with a sprained proper knee, which he irritated on the finish of the Clippers’ Recreation 1 victory and performed via of their Recreation 2 loss, in step with Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations.
Leonard’s trauma isn’t homogeneous to the torn proper ACL trauma that stored him out of all of closing season, a supply advised ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
With Leonard and Paul George (sprained proper knee) sidelined, the Clippers submit a combat Thursday night time ahead of shedding 129-124 to fall at the back of 2-1 within the first-round line. Devin Booker torched the Clippers for 45 issues, and Kevin Durant added 28 issues, six rebounds and 5 assists.
Leonard shall be monitored and evaluated day by day. He is thought of as day by day, with the Clippers having a snappy turnaround ahead of Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. PT tipoff for Recreation 4.
“Symptoms got worse after Game 2,” Frank mentioned ahead of the Clippers and Suns performed Recreation 3. “Obviously, if we weren’t comfortable with [Leonard] playing [in Game 2], we wouldn’t have. But after the game, things didn’t get better. They got worse. So we will rule him out and kind of take it day by day.”
Next defeating Phoenix in a Recreation 1 victory, Clippers head schoolteacher Ty Lue mentioned his workforce believed it will win the line. Leonard used to be unstoppable every now and then, averaging 34.5 issues, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and a couple of.0 steals date taking pictures 54.5% from the farmland within the first around, including to his sterling playoff popularity.
However Lue mentioned he discovered of Leonard’s knee trauma on Wednesday night time and used to be knowledgeable ahead of the workforce’s Thursday morning shootaround that he should not have Leonard to be had.
“It’s very deflating,” Lue mentioned then the Clippers’ loss on Thursday. “I think more so for Kawhi, because you have a guy who’s coming off ACL, hasn’t missed a rehab session, eats right, eats clean, does everything he can for his body, works extremely hard to get to this point. Then you have something like this happen.
“So it’s tricky for him, for all of the paintings that he places in. I believe sinister for him.”
The Clippers were already without George, who is likely out for the first-round series, sources told Wojnarowski before it started.
Frank said that Leonard’s injury will not speed up George’s return from his injury, which George suffered on March 21.
“He’s made advance,” Frank said of George, who has been working out and shooting on the court. “However his cure era hasn’t modified as a result of Kawhi is out this night. He continues to paintings his butt off and produce advance day by day. So day-by-day.”
With out Leonard, Norman Powell attempted to reserve while with Booker, scoring 42 issues. Russell Westbrook had 30 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds and three steals but took the blame for his six turnovers.
Making things even more difficult for the Clippers was the Suns going to the line 46 times compared with the Clippers’ 25 attempts.
Westbrook said he felt bad for Leonard not being able to play after putting forth two dominant performances in Phoenix. Leonard played 42 minutes and had 38 points, five rebounds and five assists in a 115-110 win at Phoenix in Game 1.
When asked about the heavy minutes he logged in the victory, Lue said the Clippers carefully worked Leonard’s minutes and workload up all season for exactly this reason, saying that it’s “what we’ve been preserve up for.” Leonard sat out at least one game in back-to-backs until the final two sets of back-to-backs of the regular season.
Leonard played 39 minutes and had 31 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the Suns’ 123-109 win in Game 2 on Tuesday.
“I simply really feel sorry for him,” Westbrook said. “He most definitely used to be enjoying his very best basketball in a date, most definitely the correct on the planet truthfully. It simply sucks only for him mentally.
“But it was good to see him be around [at Game 3] and communicate with us on the bench. Hopefully, we can see how he’s feeling and see what’s next. If he’s not back, we have to rally around each other, support each other, find ways to make something happen. It’s a series. First to four. Get ready for Saturday afternoon.”
