Will Kawhi Leonard’s injury concerns cause another early Clippers playoff exit? | Nightcap NBA

Will Kawhi Leonard’s injury concerns cause another early Clippers playoff exit? | Nightcap NBA

The Clippers beat the Suns 131 122 Paul George 33 points on 57% field goal shooting seven rebounds three assists kawhai chipped in with 30 points on 56% field goal shooting eight rebounds three assists and James Harden 22 points on over 50% five rebounds 11 assists Clippers look good T tou got him

Playing and it’s not and yeah and plus when you bring Russ who’s high energy Off the Bench you bring Norman pow Off the Bench you got a nice backup to EV zubot with Daniel t uh Ty they got a they got a uh you know they got a nice

Unit no I mean when when it first happened you know you’re you’re thinking in hindsight how can they all mesh and the game itself will play itself out um you know these guys are friends these guys are home right so you know the ego is not as high as you would think

Because they’re all act grown around sacrificing for each here no one expected but as on paper you’re saying if this team gets hot ah they’re gonna be dangerous and that’s what we’re seeing now it is and I think the biggest thing was is that Russ being the unselfish

Player that he was say you know what I hit to the bench because I don’t know if they could have had this kind of success if Russ stays in the starting lineup so now Russ goes to the bench he says I’ll be the shock I’ll be the leader of the

Shock troops and hey whatever you guys need if you need me in there in the uh in the closing lineup in the fourth quarter I’m there but let me run the shock troops Harden PG kawhai y’all handle that and if y’all need Norman Po and myself late down the stretch we’re there

Terence man you know Terence man’s Gonna Give You effort guy he can he’s streaky he can get hot he’s gonna play outstanding de defense he’s gonna get you a lot of loose balls they they they and tou has them playing very very well they’re G they’re gonna be if the only

Thing that concerns you is how healthy will kawhai be down the stretch into the playoffs same thing with Paul George and and that’s the and that’s the funny thing they have so many superstars on one team if one is not healthy they still have three Mega guys right um this

Lets you know the difference between coaches right and you know no knock against ham we’ seen how ham uh dealt with LeBron I mean dealt with Russell right yeah we see how hams dealing with DLo and you know Reeds right yes right and now we see how tyou he let the player

Himself look at the situation and say hey I’ll come off the bench which means because he is choosing to do do it he’s accepted that role which makes it funner if you put him on the bench and he wasn’t ready to accept it now you have a

Bitter guy on the bench right which means your second unit is horrible like the Lakers right these guys are being benched and you’re not giving them no no chance let let uh smart players players who really want to win they can look and see the writing on the wall but for for

There to be a smooth selling you have to let them put themselves on the bench they have to do that you can’t do it so that’s why the that’s why the Clippers is successful right now because the guy looked around and said you know what hey I’ll come off the

Bench I’ll run the second unit and we gonna be good do your’ thing it it it doesn’t it doesn’t hurt that Tylo is a damn good coach he was a player uh he was on he was on Championship winning teams he can flat out coach in the

Mistake that they made even though they won a championship with Frank Bogle is that the Lakers didn’t sign tou yeah yeah I mean even when Frank was here it’s like I mean he ain’t better than T yeah you played Miami in the championship I mean come on they should have been question why’

You lose two games to be honest right you shouldn’t have lost two games to that team uh we gonna talk about the Devon uh the Devon book of Paul George but KD missed tonight’s game uh with with a hamstring injury and you know last season he missed 35 games let me let’s

Go back over the last five seasons KV has missed an average of 29 games a season uh in 2021 22 he missed 27 in 2021 20 21 he missed 37 out of 72 1920 he missed the entire season 72 games uh at some point in time we give

Paul George a hard time about missing game we give kawhai a hard time about missing game we give Anthony Davis a hard time about missing game it is what it’s right there it’s right there and now you trade it for KD knowing his history you traded for Bradley Bill knowing his history so

Should anybody be surprised that these guys have missed and I know this is only KD’s I think second or third game that he’s missed but you look at the minutes because they’re so challenged he having to play 43 minutes he’s having to play 41 minutes he’s playing 39 minutes he’s playing 40

Minutes with 30 games into the regular season he’s playing those kind of minutes those are playoff minutes that you play H facts facts I I okay this is six excuse me gil this is his sixth game that he’s missed this is six game um even even with that I mean you’re still

You’re still in the beginning of the Season where you’re trying to get a certain type of Rhythm Bill’s been out so he’s been doing all the heavy lifting you know that’s a toll on him just like there’s a it’s a toll on these older guys for doing all the heavy lifting um

We can say it’s hamstring but this might be one of those um you know we could take a day off let Bill get some get some get some run get some uh get some of the touches um was it load management this might be this might be a load management time

So um you you never know really what’s behind the curtain um I think we’re just all waiting to see when all three of them are playing together and they have 10 15 games into their system together what do they look like and we we I think our frustration

Is we can’t judge them yet right and we don’t have a grade for them because as a whole we don’t know what they all look like are we sure they’re going to be able to get a 15 game stretch together based on their history I mean we just

Let let’s just let’s let’s just be honest Gil look at Bill’s history look at KD’s history books been pretty healthy now his hamstring he kind of got a balky he got a bky wheel also but what’s the likelihood that we’re gonna see a stretch where these guys play

Somewhere 15 20 games together after allar break right the way this the way that the the way it’s looking now I’m assuming after Allstar break because when KD comes back I’m pretty sure Booker’s gonna probably take a little break you know what I mean like this is

Chess H like you know take a couple break and then after All-Star break you know there’s 32 games left 30 round the 32 33 let’s Move

Shannon Sharpe and Gilbert Arenas react to the Los Angeles Clippers 131-122 victory over Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns and discusses whether Kawhi Leonard and Paul George’s injury history will be a problem in the playoffs. They also discuss Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal’s injuries affecting the Suns’ ability to get into a rhythm on the court.

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