Clippers star Kawhi Leonard sat out on Monday vs. San Antonio due to a left ankle sprain, but the injury seems unlikely to sideline the veteran forward for an extended period. Leonard, who was initially listed as doubtful vs. the Spurs before being downgraded to out, is considered day-to-day and will accompany the team on its upcoming three-game road trip, tweets Janis Carr of The Orange County Register.
The Clippers will play a back-to-back set in New Orleans on Wednesday and Thursday before visiting Dallas on Saturday. Leonard would have to play in at least one of those three games in order to preserve his eligibility for end-of-season awards.
Here’s more on the Clippers:
- After missing nine of 10 games – including seven straight – due to a sore neck and head laceration, big man John Collins returned to action on Saturday vs. Sacramento. Collins came off the bench on Saturday for the first time since early November, but was back in the starting five on Monday with Leonard inactive. “It was just a funky process,” Collins said of his injury recovery, per Carr. “Again, it could have been a lot worse on the injury side, but I just tried to stay positive and come in every day, bringing good energy and again, continue to try to just keep my body ready as well as I could.”
- The Clippers’ 119-115 loss to San Antonio on Monday dropped the team back to .500 (34-34), but head coach Tyronn Lue was pleased with what his young reserves brought to the table in Leonard’s absence, according to Carr. Jordan Miller scored 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting, while Kobe Sanders (+20), Cam Christie (+12), and Isaiah Jackson (+10) all had positive plus/minus marks. “I thought their energy was really good in that third quarter to come back and cut the lead and continue to keep fighting, playing the right way,” Lue said. “We got it close and then I think we gave up a three, missed a rotation, give up a three I think to (Stephon) Castle. But just coming in, competing, playing at a high level, that’s what our young guys did tonight. We needed every bit of it.”
- One of the Clippers’ other youngsters, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, recently underwent season-ending foot surgery, but he was playing his best basketball of the season prior to that injury. Speaking to Jaime Maggio of Sports Central LA (Twitter video link), Niederhauser credited teammates Bogdan Bogdanovic and Brook Lopez for helping him adjust to the NBA game, also citing Ivica Zubac as an influence before he was traded to Indiana.
As a clippers fan both resigned to the fact clippers aren’t gonna win a title any time soon if ever and nobody should find that disappointing and proud they are constantly solid and respectable none the less after the 90s and early 2000s
If you win more games than you lose, that is certainly a decent measurement of success. It then become a matter of degree. It’s all a matter of how entertained you are with a winning team, and how much winning is acceptable.
Clippers with healthy KL make a good R1 match up if he can light it up. Not sure why they traded Zubac but I’d that pick ends up conveying it’ll all be worth it. Nei looks good (before injury) and Lopez will work until then.
EXACTLY! Spot on aircastle.
But shouldn’t Zubac be IZ, and Lopez BR, or at least Bropez?