Earlier today, it was reported by Bleacher Report that Kawhi Leonard could possibly miss the rest of the series against the Utah Jazz. It is said that the Clippers’ Small Forward could have potentially torn his ACL, which would rule out any chances of Leonard playing again this season.
Leonard’s injury has sparked up many questions: ‘how long will he be out for?’, ‘are there any official reports by the Clippers?’, and one of the biggest questions, is this the end of the Clippers playoff run this season?
Is This The End?
The Los Angeles Clippers have one of the best squads’ in the Western Conference, and arguably in the entire NBA. Similar to most teams, it takes one injury to change the form and results of a team.
We’ve seen countless of these examples throughout this season with the injuries of players like Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson. Both of these players have a big role in their respective teams, but their injuries played a big factor in the early exits of the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers respectively.
Therefore, everything is pointing towards a playoff exit for the Clippers as their most influential player on the court in the playoffs has been: Kawhi Leonard. In the previous round, Kawhi turned up for the Clippers after being 2-0 against the Dallas Mavericks. Without Leonard, the Clippers may have seen an early exit like their LA neighbors.
As reported by Blake Schuster on Bleacher Report, Leonard has been averaging higher numbers in the playoffs than in the regular season:
“After averaging 24.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.2 assists over the course of the regular season, he’s posting 30.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game in the playoffs”
Blake Schuster, Bleacher Report
Similar to the Dallas series, the Clippers were 2-0 down to the Utah Jazz, but have made it 2-2. Once again, Steven Balmer can thank Kawhi for his 34 and 31 point games in Games 3 and 4 respectively.
Without Kawhi, the Clippers will have to rely on Paul George to guide them to their first Conference finals ever. Because of this, many Clippers’ fans don’t have their hopes of seeing ‘playoff p’ take the big stage.
Will the Clippers overcome this adversity? Tune in on TNT for Game 5 between the LA Clippers and the Utah Jazz!
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