Kawhi Leonard, ‘confident’ Clippers plot to topple Nuggets
The Los Angeles Clippers were in the midst of a forgettable start to the season the last time they played the Denver Nuggets.
Things have turned around quickly for Los Angeles, which visits the Nuggets on Friday night in the second of three matchups between the teams this season.
The Clippers began the season with a 6-21 record, and one of those setbacks was a 130-116 loss at home to the Nuggets on Nov. 12. Kawhi Leonard didn't play in that game but he is healthy and competing at a high level now.
Leonard, who is averaging 27.9 points per game, has scored at least 20 points in 25 straight games. Only three times in 33 games this season has he failed to reach 20 points. Leonard and James Harden have been the catalysts for the turnaround.
Los Angeles is 16-3 since a 21-point loss at Oklahoma City on Dec. 18.
"We're confident, we're playing well, but we've still got to play better," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. "We still have to run through the tape and continue to execute the right way. ... Overall, we're playing well. We've got to keep it going."
Harden is second on the team in scoring at 25.4 points a game and leads Los Angeles in assists (8.1). Ivica Zubac is contributing 14.6 points per game and tops the team in rebounding average (10.9).
Friday night will be the Clippers' first trip to Denver since losing Game 7 of their first-round playoff series last April. They catch the Nuggets on the second game of a back-to-back and without four starters - Nikola Jokic (left knee), Cameron Johnson (right knee), Christian Braun (left ankle) and Aaron Gordon (right hamstring).
While head coach David Adelman said before Thursday night's 107-103 win over Brooklyn that Jokic, Johnson and Braun could return by the All-Star break, Gordon is going to miss up to six weeks after suffering the injury in Milwaukee on Jan. 23.
"We know he'll be back before the end of the season, and he'll get back to being who he is," Adelman said of Gordon. "Just an unfortunate thing in a season of many unfortunate things."
Adelman has been able to keep the team near the top of the Western Conference despite not having Jokic, a three-time MVP, for the last 16 games. Denver is 10-6 since he went down Dec. 29 in Miami after beating the Nets.
Jamal Murray, who has dealt with hamstring tightness, and Peyton Watson have helped the Nuggets find success. They were both instrumental in the Nuggets' holding off Brooklyn on Thursday. Murray is averaging 25.9 points a game, second to Jokic's 29.6, and Watson is putting up 14.5 points a night.
Tim Hardaway Jr. also was integral to Denver beating the Nets. Hardaway made a season high-tying seven 3-pointers and finished with 25 points. He had struggled from deep before going 4-for-9 in Tuesday's loss to Detroit. He was 4-for-27 in the previous four games.
He is averaging 16.0 points this month despite scoring just two points at Washington on Jan. 22.