LOS ANGELES – The Clippers returned Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to lineup on Friday, and the timing couldn’t be better.
The rising Utah Jazz, winners of 20 of their previous 21 games, including their 18-point win over the Clippers on Wednesday, returned to Staples Center for a second straight game. And the Clippers wanted to show where they stood against the top team in the Western standings.
Leonard scored 29 points and scored two great offensive rebounds in the final minute to help the Clippers hold the Jazz, 116-112, and get the streak of nine games of Utah’s victory.
“They’re currently the best team in the NBA,” Clippers coach Ty Lue said. “We knew they won 20 of 21 coming in tonight. We got our guys back and we wanted to win that game.”
The Clippers (22-9) regained their two stars on the court after George missed the previous seven games due to a swollen right foot and Leonard was left out of the previous three due to a lower contusion of the left leg. The Clippers’ initial lineup was complete again, with striker Nicolas Batum also returning after missing the previous two games due to a concussion.
“I’m glad I was able to go out and play today,” said Leonard, who wore a sleeve on his lower left leg. “We’ve been able to stay healthy and get the top five headlines, and that’s what it’s all about. We want to improve. We don’t have a chance to really play with a complete and healthy list for the last two weeks or so. So, hopefully, we will be able to have some blessings and be able to be healthy to finish up to the All-Star [break] has started “.
The Jazz (24-6) also had guard Mike Conley (right hamstring) back in training for this showdown 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, with 29 in the second half. The goalie scored 12 points in the first 1:23 when he helped Utah reduce a 13-point deficit to two with 13 seconds left.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert said the game “felt like a playoff game: the intensity, the hard shots they were doing all night.”
For Utah, this was a weird game. During the 20-1 stretch, the Jazz had recorded just seven minutes in clutch time, when the score is five points in the final five minutes. This is the lowest in the NBA in this period.
“There are so many different things we’ve seen along this stretch,” Mitchell said. “We are not here to be satisfied with what happens today, tomorrow. We are preparing for the long run: the second half of the season and the playoffs. We must continue to be this team and not just be this team in the first half of the season “.
Like the Jazz, who won a 3-1 series advantage over the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs last season, the Clippers are also struggling to be better than they were in the previous postseason. They won a 3-1 series advantage over the Nuggets in the second round.
The Clippers will need a healthy Leonard and George to go further this season. George said he had been playing with his toes and was able to manage it with a day off between games until he played in consecutive games against Brooklyn and Cleveland. Then George experienced swelling and had to be closed until the swelling and pain subsided.
“We played in Brooklyn and then in Cleveland, two tough games that really caused me to have to dig up and push, plant and play with my toes,” said George, who had 15 points, six rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes. “Only that back to back tipped me overboard and I couldn’t recover, I needed some free time because I was inflated. I just tried to keep rolling for the team and it ended up dragging me.”
“I feel good,” George added about how his toe came out of the game. “Just getting back into the swing of things.”
The same could be said of the Clippers, who were glad to have their healthy stars against the fiery Jazz.
“At the end of the day, we’re basketball fans and of course you see the noise that is made throughout the season,” Clippers goalie Patrick Beverley said of the 20-1 stretch of the Jazz. “We really wanted the one we left, we ran out of gas towards the end [on Wednesday]. You have to give credit to Utah. They had a hellish system, hella players, coaches.
“It was a tough game, and that’s the kind of game you want in the NBA, and we’re lucky to get a win for sure.”