The Los Angeles Clippers followed their victory over the Lakers on opening night with another major effort against a candidate for the Western Conference on Christmas Day.
But they lost Kawhi Leonard along the way.
The Clippers improved to 2-0 with a 121-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday, crowning the NBA holiday season with the fifth double-digit winning margin in five games.
They held on to victory after losing Leonard, who was bloodied and lying on the court after his teammate Serge Ibaka inadvertently elbowed him in the teeth in the middle of a fight for a lost ball at the end of the fourth period.
(Warning: the footage below contains blood)
Leonard managed to get up and walk to the locker room, but was quickly dismissed for the rest of the game.
Coach Tyronn Lue was optimistic after the game that Leonard was not seriously injured while the Clippers medical team continued to assess his superstar.
“He got up and left the floor, so he’ll be fine”, Lue told reporters.
The Clippers later announced that Leonard needed eight points to close a tear in the mouth.
Clippers Avoid Nuggets’ Final Rally
Los Angeles had a 72-55 at halftime and thwarted Denver’s efforts in the second half to close this game. The Nuggets threatened a comeback with an 11-0 streak at the start of the fourth period. But Leonard avoided the rally with a pair of mid-range jumpers to prevent the race.
It was a performance that Clippers fans would certainly have preferred to see in any of Games 5, 6 or 7 of the overwhelming defeat for the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals.
But with convincing victories over their main rivals at the conference for the start of the season, the Clippers’ faithful will have to settle for the hottest start in the west of the new NBA season, while hoping Leonard’s injury looks worse than it is.
Prior to his injury, Leonard led the Clippers effort alongside Paul George. He finished with 21 points, seven assists, four rebounds and four steals while hitting 8 of 14 pitches. Several of these shots were of the underrated mid-range variety at the end of the game, which were necessary to keep the Clippers in control.
George, however, added 23 points and nine assists by hitting 5 of 9 attempts at 3 points.
Slow start for Nuggets
The defeat brought the Nuggets down to 0-2 after losing in Wednesday’s overtime to the Sacramento Kings. The good news for Denver is that Jamal Murray found his final shot at the end, after fighting for much of the game after a 1-9 attempt against Sacramento.
Murray finished with 23 points and five rebounds, while hitting 9 out of 20 pitches. Nikola Jokic led the Denver effort with 24 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.
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