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LOS ANGELES – Kawhi Leonard is blown away by Royce O’Neal and sprints down the driveway before throwing an explosive one-handed dip all over Utah’s Derek Vevers.
A powerful Leonard in the second quarter of a slam put up an exclamation point in a first half that saw the Los Angeles Clippers advance by as much as 29 points before the evening’s Western Conference semifinal series with the Jazz in two games each with a 118-104 victory over the Staples Center on Monday night. .
As the Clippers win their second game in a row in blast style to give them all the momentum, Ty Lue’s team heads to Utah with some concern about Leonard’s health. The Clippers franchise player came to Gimpy after driving to the basket while being fouled by Joe Ingles with 5:25 left in the game. Leonard bowed before briefly grabbing his right knee. Leonard left the contest with 4:35 remaining and did not return.
Leonard would only say “I’m fine” when asked about his knee. Next question.
Lue thinks Leonard will be fine in Wednesday’s pivotal fifth game in Utah.
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He told me, “Yeah, I think so.” “We will know more after the match, but yes, I think everyone is fine.”
For the second game in a row, the Jazz had no answers for Leonard and Paul George. The Clippers All-Stars each scored 31 points. In the first half, Leonard scored 19 points, George 15 points and Marcus Morris contributed 22 points out of 24 points. Those three Clippers combined to beat Utah 56 to 44 in the half.
In Game 3, Leonard earned 34 points while George added 31 points. On Monday, Leonard and George became the fifth duo since the 1976-77 merger with 30 points each in back-to-back playoffs.
“They were on a different level,” said Donovan Mitchell, who led the Jazz with 37 points, five assists and five rebounds. “And we couldn’t buy a bucket.”
“We have to be the aggressors,” Mitchell added. “They went out and hit first both times in the house.”
Leonard’s thunderous immersion was not only felt by jazz at Staples Center. It reverberated across the country as Philadelphia 76er star Joel Embiid reacted in real time as he held his post-game press conference Monday night. Embiid was watching a screen and was a fan of Leonard’s immersion which also went viral on the internet.
“I can’t see the reaction of what’s on the web or social media,” said Leonard, a celebrity who doesn’t do much on social media. “[Ivica Zubac] Show me a passage of Embiid’s speech.”
The dunk wasn’t the only thing Leonard gave him before he left the game. He also had a definite hitch in the third quarter to help keep the Clippers from collapsing with their big lead.
“You see him more aggressive and you know what time it is now,” George said of Leonard. “It’s written all over the place in terms of it’s time. It’s playoff basketball and you know, it’s about time. So you see everything around him, his style and his body language, everything is going to be cool and so he’s leading the way.”
Leonard looked as explosive as he had done all season until he seemed to wrap his knee in the fourth. Leonard stayed in the match, fouled another five seconds later, but missed two free throws. He made two fatal shots before he exited the match, and the Clippers advanced 107-91.
Although he was not checked off the bench, Leonard spoke with a coach. The Clippers maintained their star even as Utah closed the gap to 112-102 with 2:10 remaining.
The Clippers are now two wins away from their first appearance in the Western Conference Finals. But the two-time Finals player isn’t even thinking about that now.
“I don’t care about the Western Conference finals,” Leonard said. “We’re trying to win the championship. Obviously that’s the next step, but I don’t even look at that.”
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