Clippers fans have been on a roller coaster ride all season, and not just your normal, run-of-the-mill, take a few turns and one loop-de-loop kind of ride, either. First it was the Kawhi Leonard Aspiration tree-planting scandal and a 6-21 record to start the year. Then a hot stretch where they looked like the best team in basketball followed by the shock of James Harden being sent to Cleveland, this has been the kind of attraction that leaves you nauseous and your hands blistered, but still in one piece.
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Like most roller coasters, the Clips are back where they started with a perfectly even 36-36 record. Given how they began the season, it’s a bit of a miracle that they ever sniffed .500, let alone currently hold the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoff race.
Kawhi may have been the focus in a negative way a the outset of the season due to his role with Aspiration, but he deserves all the credit in the world for helping the Clippers hang in there and keep fighting. He’s averaging 28.3 points per game, the highest number of his 14-year career, and though he missed some time earlier in the year, he’s been shockingly durable since.
The Clippers are 32-23 when Kawhi plays, and he helped them to a win last night with 28 points against the Bucks. Afterwards, he was asked about his leadership — not just his method of leading by example, but what he actually says to what has become a young group in the wake of the Harden and Ivica Zubac trades.
“They’re doing it themselves, it’s between their ears,” he said. “This group likes to play basketball, they like to have fun out there and compete, and we’re not scared of nobody, even if they’re more talented or their record’s better. We still want to go out and compete and try to have pride in playing and being competitive out there.”
“It’s a lot of young guys, or guys that are getting a lot of minutes in different roles this year that are stepping up” he continued. “So we just gotta tell ’em to enjoy the moment, even at times when we’re down or the calls aren’t going our way. It’s just basketball at the end of the day, and it never goes your way, so keep putting one foot in front of the other and have fun,” Kawhi added.
Leonard has been steady as can be, even as the roster has changed around him. He’s scored at least 23 points in every game he’s played since the beginning of February, and has gotten help from new additions Bennedict Mathurin and Darius Garland. Both guys are averaging over 20 since joining the team, and Garland’s 41 were instrumental in L.A. getting an overtime win over the Mavs on Saturday.
The Clippers are only a .500 team, but neither the Thunder nor the Spurs have to be excited about facing them in the first round. This isn’t your typical 7- or 8-seed, and with Leonard playing at an All-NBA level, they can give even the top teams some problems.
