Kawhi Leonard and Paul George suited up for the LA Clippers once again on Tuesday, and it resulted in another win. The Clippers defeated the Chicago Bulls, 108-103, giving them their sixth win in the last seven games. All six wins have come when Leonard and George were active.
Slowly but surely, it appears the Clippers are inching toward where they want to be: playing high-level basketball entering the NBA playoffs. Tuesday night was another challenge, especially with two flamethrowers like DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine on the opposing end of the floor.
Kawhi Leonard turned in another spectacular performance, finishing with 33 points, four rebounds, five assists, five steals, and two blocked shots on 11-of-24 shooting from the field in 40 minutes of play. His co-star, Paul George, also put on a solid game with 16 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, and two steals in 40 minutes of play as well.
The win improved the Clippers to four games over .500 at 29-25, including a perfect 7-0 when Kawhi Leonard scores at least 30 points this season.
After the game, Leonard rejected the notion that the Clippers are getting close to where they want to be after winning six of the last seven games.
“No, we had a slow start,” Kawhi Leonard explained. “So we got a lot of catching up to do, but we're making the right strides.”
Kawhi Leonard on if the Clippers are close to where they want to be after winning 6 of 7:
"No. We had a slow start, so we got a lot of catching up to do, but we're making the right strides."pic.twitter.com/3HcOm0uZnL
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) February 1, 2023
Head coach Tyronn Lue made an interesting decision to close the game out with Reggie Jackson instead of Ivica Zubac or Robert Covington, despite ‘Big Government's' shooting struggles.
“Because I know he can make big shots down the stretch and I just thought we needed ball-handling to initiate our offense,” Tyronn Lue said on why he made the move. “They did a good job picking up [Paul George] full-court and wearing him down. I thought we needed a traditional point guard in the game to just kind of initiate and get us into our stuff. I just felt like orchestrating our offense and really getting us into our sets. Whether we make the shot or not, just getting a good possession every time. I thought we did that for the most part.”
The LA Clippers attempted 44 threes and only made 27.3 percent of them, while the Chicago Bulls made 50 percent of their threes. Teams were 1-27 all-time prior to Tuesday when they shot under 30 percent on threes with at least 40 three-pointers attempted while their opponents shot 50 percent on threes.
“Getting stops down in the end.” Leonard said on the keys to the fourth quarter run. Limiting them to one shot, getting the rebound, coming down with pace and making shots.”
Three games remain on this six-game trip for the LA Clippers. Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Co. will visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night before closing out the trip in New York against the Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.
The Clippers have no back-to-back sets from now until March 2nd, which will give them 10 consecutive games where they'll be able to play healthy and not rest anybody.
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