LOS ANGELES – LA Clippers had Kawhi Leonard and Paul George back on the team on Friday, and the timing couldn’t have been better.
The growing Utah Jazz, winner of 20 of the previous 21 games, including an 18-point win over the Clippers on Wednesday, was back at Staples Center for a second consecutive game. And the Clippers wanted to show where they were against the main team in the Western standings.
Leonard scored 29 points and scored two big offensive rebounds in the final minute to help the Clippers hold on to Jazz 116-112 and win Utah’s nine-game winning streak.
“They are the best NBA team now with records,” said Clippers coach Ty Lue. “We knew they won 20 out of 21 tonight. We got our team back and we wanted to win this game.”
The Clippers (22-9) had their two stars back on the court after George lost his previous seven games because of a swollen right toe and Leonard missed out on the previous three due to a left leg injury. The Clippers’ starting lineup was complete again, with striker Nicolas Batum also returning after missing the previous two games due to a concussion.
“I am very happy to have been able to go out and play today,” said Leonard, who was wearing a sleeve on his left leg. “We were able to be healthy and put our five players out there, and that’s what it is all about. We want to improve. We haven’t had a chance to really play with a complete and healthy team in the past two weeks. So, hopefully, we can have some blessings and being able to keep us healthy to finish by the All-Star [break] started.”
Jazz (24-6) also had guard Mike Conley (right hamstring) back in line for this direct confrontation between two of the best teams in the West. Conley scored 16 points, but it was Donovan Mitchell who almost kept the Jazz streak alive. Mitchell scored 35 points, 29 of which in the second half. The guard scored 12 points in the final 1:23 when he helped Utah reduce the deficit from 13 points to two, with 13 seconds to go.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert said the game “felt like a tiebreaker – the intensity, the strong shots that went on all night.”
For Utah, this was a rare tight game. During its 20-1 extension, Jazz recorded only seven minutes in the clutch time, when the score is within five points in the final five minutes. This is the lowest number in the NBA in that period.
“There are so many different things that we’ve seen along this stretch,” said Mitchell. “We are not here to be satisfied with what is going to happen today, tomorrow. We are preparing for the long run – the second half of the season and the playoffs. We have to remain this team and not just be this team in the first half of the season. “
Like Jazz, who lost a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs last season, the Clippers are also striving to be better than they were the previous postseason. They lost a 3-1 lead in the series to the Nuggets in the second round.
The Clippers will need healthy Leonard and George to go further this season. George said he was playing with a sore toe and that he managed to spend a day off between games until he played a consecutive game against Brooklyn and Cleveland. George then had a swelling and had to be turned off until the swelling and pain subsided.
“We played in Brooklyn and then in Cleveland, two tough games that really made me have to dig and push, plant and play with my toes,” said George, who had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes. “It was just that with my back to each other that it knocked me overboard and I couldn’t recover, I needed some time off because I was swollen. I just tried to keep it rolling for the team and ended up dominating me.”
“I feel good,” added George, referring to the sensation of the toe when leaving the game. “I’m just going back to the pace of things.”
The same could be said for the Clippers, who were happy to have their stars back healthy against red-hot jazz.
“We are basketball fans at the end of the day and, of course, you see the noise being made throughout the season,” said Clippers point guard Patrick Beverley of the 20-1 section of Jazz. “Actually, we wanted the one we gave up on, kind of ran out of gas at the end [on Wednesday]. You have to give credit to Utah. They have an incredible system, hella players, coaches.
“It was a tough game, and this is the kind of game you want in the NBA, and we are lucky to get a win for sure.”