Kawhi Leonard scores 12 in his return in Clippers’ | College News

Kawhi Leonard leaned ahead whereas sitting on the dais with his arms crossed and a black scarf on his head whereas giving his first interview of the 2024-25 season.

The Clippers star seemed on the media asking him questions concerning the irritation in his proper knee that stored him out of the crew’s first 34 video games. Leonard took his time answering in his deep voice, making sure he was emphatic with every assertion.

Leonard didn’t play a lot in the Clippers’ 131-105 rout of the Atlanta Hawks on the Intuit Dome on Saturday evening. Taking solely 11 pictures, he completed with 12 factors and three rebounds in 19 minutes, 25 seconds of taking part in time.

The Clippers (20-15) didn’t need a lot else from Leonard after building a 20-point halftime lead over Atlanta (18-18) behind a 45-point second quarter.

“I took the shots that I got,” Leonard mentioned. “We’re still easing me into the game. We’re on nobody’s, I guess, timetable. Anybody watching who wants me to score 20, 30 points or be aggressive, we’re not on no one’s time frame. We know what’s ahead of us and we have to keep building in the right direction. So, we’re facing it like it was a preseason game tonight and we’ll keep moving the same way until I’m able to build up my minutes.”

Leonard made his first shot, a three-pointer from the wing with 9:58 left in the primary quarter.

“It was nothing hard about playing tonight. We did the right steps to get me to this point,” Leonard mentioned. “Playing basketball was the easy part of it. This is what I love to do. The hard part is not playing, having to rehab and not competing with my teammates.”

Leonard performed in simply two of the Clippers’ six playoff video games in opposition to the Mavericks in April. He labored out with USA Basketball in July for the Paris Olympics, however was despatched home as a result of of his knee.

That led to a long arduous rehabilitation for Leonard that included a lot of five-on-five practices.

He now says he’s healthy.

“Just keep playing, not worried about it,” Leonard mentioned. “Keep doing the things I was doing, that we’ve been doing to get me to this point and that’s it. That’s all I can ask for and do. It’s out of my control and we’ll see what happens.”

As the Clippers transfer ahead, beginning with Monday’s sport at Minnesota, they may proceed to monitor Leonard’s knee.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue mentioned they wish to “make sure there is no swelling” and “make sure he feels good.”

“Like I said, we’re treating this as a preseason game until he gets his legs up under him,” Lue mentioned. (*12*)

Clippers ahead Kawhi Leonard, heart, tries to shoot over Atlanta’s Clint Capela, left, and De’Andre Hunter during the second half Saturday.

(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)

The Clippers are principally entire now, with Leonard and key reserve Terance Mann back. Mann, who completed with 12 factors on five-for-five capturing, had missed 11 video games with a finger damage.

With so many choices at his disposal, James Harden had 13 of his 15 assists by halftime. Norman Powell led the Clippers with 20 factors on eight-of-16 capturing. Trae Young led Atlanta with 20 factors, 14 assists and 4 rebounds.

But this evening was about Leonard and his return to motion.

“This is the most serious he’s taken playing five-on-five and pick-up since he’s been here over the course of doing his rehab,” Lue mentioned earlier than the sport. “But he really went full speed. He was really locked in on just testing it out, seeing how he felt. He really did a good job in his rehabbing process and just making sure that we checked every box, because if he didn’t go hard we wouldn’t let him come back. So, he really did that. He was really serious about his rehab.”