INGLEWOOD, Calif. — On the verge of setting a franchise record for himself, kawhi leonard Chose to take the pass so that he could remain fresh for another day.
Originally team-oriented, Leonard was actually a little selfish due to the request on Sunday, topping out with a career-high 55 points. LA Clippers to one win 112-99 Eastern Conference-Leadership detroit pistons,
The Clippers are now on a season-best four-game winning streak and Leonard’s recent scoring explosion is the main reason for that.
Leonard was told by head coach Tyronn Lue that he was approaching the franchise scoring record, but he decided to keep his fourth quarter court time to the normal six minutes and left with less than a minute remaining.
Now he shares the team mark with teammates for points in the game james harden,
“as I told [Lue]I’d rather go out there and play another game than take a risk,” Leonard said. “Hopefully, we can get another win and stay in the same position. It is what it is.”
Harden later teased Leonard that it took him a long time to win a 50-point game, while the latter also yelled “double nickels” in the locker room. Leonard is in his 14th season.
“It was a beautiful thing to see how efficient, how effortless it was,” Harden said. “It was very intuitive. He got to whatever spot he wanted to go and once you get to that spot it’s not even about the defender. It’s about him making the shot.
“So happy for them because behind the scenes you see someone and how hard they work. … For them, the struggle they had to go through and become themselves was a beautiful thing to see.”
Leonard, slowed by knee injuries in recent years, sat out 10 games earlier this season because of ankle and foot problems. He finally reached 40 minutes in a game during a win. Los Angeles Lakers The winning streak started from last week. They did it again with a win on Friday.
He went 17 of 26 from the field against the Pistons and 16 of 17 from the free throw line in 39 minutes.
“He’s finally getting healthy and being able to play enough minutes to be effective,” Lue said. “When he’s healthy, he’s one of the top guys in the league. We’ve been able to see that lately.”
With a game of 41 points on Tuesday Houston RocketsLeonard is the second player in franchise history to score at least 40 points in back-to-back home games, joining Bob McAdoo.
Leonard scored 26 points in the third quarter on Sunday, but he also missed his only free throw in the period. Not only was it the point he needed to set a franchise scoring record, but the miss ended his franchise-record run of 64 consecutive free throws.
“I’ve never really been in this situation,” said Leonard, who has averaged 39.0 points over the past four games. “I’m trying to get the ball to people more than what I’m doing and share it. But coach wants me to be aggressive the whole game.
“It’s just a different evolution of me shooting more 3s and trying to evolve my game to today’s game.”
