On Sunday evening, the Los Angeles Clippers took their second straight loss with a narrow home defeat at the hands of the Orlando Magic. This was a tightly contested game throughout, but ultimately, the Clippers fell when a last-second shot from Bennedict Mathurin to win the game hit the back of the iron and fell out.
After the game, Kawhi Leonard, who kicked the pass out to Mathurin for the open look, had a supportive message for the Clippers' recent trade acquisition from the Indiana Pacers.
“Ben wide open. Laced 'em up. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it. But it’s basketball. Things happen. We got a good look and he’ll be ready next time,” said Leonard, per Joey Linn of Sports Illustrated on X, formerly Twitter.
Mathurin also got 100% real on the missed shot, as well as what it means to have someone like Leonard in his corner.
“…It was great to have that experience. Obviously I wish I would’ve made that shot, but there’s nothing I can do other than work on it more… It means a lot. In my opinion, [Kawhi] is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. So to have him come show love and show support that there’s many more ahead of me — for a guy who's made a lot of those shots, it was great to see,” he said.
The Clippers have now lost two straight games after their recent win over the Denver Nuggets, but still are comfortably in postseason position in the Western Conference, sitting five games above the Memphis Grizzlies for the final play-in spot.
Mathurin was acquired from the Pacers in exchange for big man Ivica Zubac as part of the Clippers' trade deadline fire sale, which also saw them send James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Darius Garland.
The Clippers will next take the floor on Thursday vs the Minnesota Timberwolves.
