Los Angeles — When Kawhi Leonard joined Paul George on the shelves, the Clippers star wattage went down significantly on Sunday night.
Leonard was on the sidelines with a bruise on his left thigh. Paul George, classified as bone edema of his right toe, missed five consecutive games.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said he didn’t know when Leonard’s injury happened, what his prognosis was, or what George was. George made some shots before the match on Sunday.
“I’m not sure, but it happened on this road trip,” Lou said of Leonard’s bruise and just knew he couldn’t play on Sunday. “I’m not sure when that happened or when he will come back.
“In all the news with Kawai, I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Paul yet,” Lou added. “But as soon as I’m done, I can talk to (basketball operations president) Lawrence (Frank). That’s it.”
The two starring wings average 51.1 points between them, 44% of the team’s score.
And in the last four games without George, Leonard increased his aggressive output, averaging 29.3 points and shooting 51.2% off the field.
“We can’t make up for the points we’re missing alone,” Lou said before the Clippers countered Cleveland at Staples Center. “But we want to play hard. We want to compete and keep playing the right way.”
Lou Williams will join the starting unit and play with Reggie Jackson, Patrick Beverley, Nicolas Batum and Serge Ibaka, Lou said.
Lou said Williams (usually the Clippers’ major Sixth Man) made the first start of the season, “creating more points, creating pace, going downhill and creating play for the other guys. I want to be able to do it. ”
The Clippers are 1-1 so far when they had to play without both Leonard and George. They are currently ranked 3rd and 5th among Western Conference voters in All-Star Game fan polls. LA split the first two games of the recent six-game road trip when the stars were out according to the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocol.
“In Miami, we were looking for different lineups to find out that the guys on the energy and bench came in and did a great job for us,” Lou said. .. 28.
“So we just want to keep making great habits, and as you know, they’re ready for that, they’re doing it and want to keep it tonight I will. ”
The match on Sunday was the eighth time George missed this season. The Clippers were 3-4 with no action on Sunday.
Leonard missed his fifth game. LA played on Sunday with a 2-2 mark in a clawless contest. Two of them were half of a series of sets, like Sunday.
After avoiding playing the previous two seasons in complete succession, while addressing the NBA’s report of continuous damage to the patellar tendon of the left knee, Leonard has so far two this season. I played in a series of sets. And I missed the other two.
Due to a laceration in his mouth, Leonard, the league’s 10th-ranked scorer, was unable to play against Minnesota on December 29, the night before his match against Portland, with 26.7 points per match. Due to health and safety protocols, the Clippers were unable to play in Miami the day before they played in Orlando.
The Clippers will host Miami at the Staples Center on Monday in the second game of the five-game homestand, which began on Sunday.
Lou said he was optimistic that the Clippers would stick to the script, even if there was no man to rely on.
“We want to play at a pace. We want to paint as much as we can, share basketball, and stay focused on defense, foundation, and what we’re trying to do every night,” Lou said. Said. “So we all know that everyone is out, we still want to play the same way and continue to strive for good habits.”
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