There was a moment when Kawhi Leonard leaned over with one minute and 30 seconds left, his head down looking at the court, exhausted from all the work he was putting in for the Clippers.
But Leonard didn’t let fatigue stop him, his will and spirit leading the Clippers to a 105-102 win over the Denver Nuggets to even the best-of-seven playoff series at 1-1.
Leonard finished with 39 points in 39 minutes. He was 15 for 19 from the field, his jumper with 54.5 seconds left providing the final margin of victory. He also had a key steal in the final minute off a bad pass from Nikola Jokic.
Read more:Clippers vow to take better care of the basketball after Game 1 loss to Nuggets
“It’s difficult,” Leonard said about the energy it takes to play in an NBA game. “Like I said, playing here, playing against this great team, they got great players, know their roles. … Any NBA game is very hard to play, especially in the playoffs. It might look easy by just watching us and seeing how skilled we are. But these games are hard to play. You got to play every possession every minute.”
The game wasn’t decided until Christian Braun missed a three and Jokic, who had a triple-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, missed a three-pointer with one second left.
Game 3 is Thursday night at the Intuit Dome.
“I thought Kawhi willed us to a win,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.
Jamal Murray, who had 26 points, tied the score 100-100 on a three-pointer with 2:05 left. Michael Porter Jr. rebounded a missed shot by Leonard, but he turned it over with 1:35 left.
Norman Powell then drilled a three-pointer to give the Clippers a 103-100 lead with 1:30 left, forcing the Nuggets to call time out. Jokic, who had seven turnovers, then made two free throws to make it a one-point game.
But Leonard made sure the Nuggets wouldn’t take the lead. He scored the game’s final basket on a 21-foot jumper with 54 seconds left.
“This is what Kawhi lives for,” Lue said. “He’s trying to get to this point where he’s healthy for the playoffs. So we know if we got a healthy Kawhi, we can win any series. That just shows you tonight what he’s capable of doing.”
Ivica Zubac finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Powell had 13 points.
The game figured to turn testy after all the physical play between both teams, and things got heated between Powell and Jamal Murray in the third quarter. Murray felt Powell pushed him coming off a screen to get free. When Murray caught up to Powell across the court, the two were face to face, and Murray grabbed Powell and picked him up. That led to Kris Dunn and Braun getting into a confrontation, the two exchanging words.
After a review by the officials, Dunn, Powell and Braun were called for unsportsmanlike technical fouls. It was all settled with Murray shooting a technical free throw.
“I thought we responded well,” Lue said. “It actually got Norm going. He made three shots after that. Jamal said he was just competing. It wasn’t anything dirty. Just playing hard and competing. When you are in the playoffs, if things like this don’t happen, then I don’t know if you are playing hard enough. So, it’s going to happen.”
Read more:Turnovers haunt Clippers during Game 1 overtime loss to Nuggets
From the start, Leonard was playing hard, giving the Clippers his all, refusing to let anything get in his way. At the end of the first half, he calmly drilled a three-pointer just before the buzzer, giving the Clippers a 55-52 halftime lead. Leonard had 21 points in 24 minutes during the first half, missing just one of his 10 shots and one of his two three-pointers.
“It felt like he didn’t miss a shot,” said James Harden, who had 18 points, about Leonard. “His shot-making ability is elite. That’s the aggressiveness that we need from him. No matter what’s going on, no matter who is guarding him, he just got to his spot and raised up. So, big-time player. He played big-time tonight.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
