Leonard soars, clips Jazz's advantage
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Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard dunking over Jazz's 2.06m centre Derrick Favors in his team's 118-104 win on Monday to even the Western Conference semi-final series at 2-2. The highlight following two quick dribbles and a huge leap - widely regarded as the dunk of this NBA post-season - saw the Staples Centre's restricted-capacity crowd of 8,474 erupt.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LOS ANGELES • Despite giving the Los Angeles Clippers fans a scare after he sat out the final 4min 35sec of their 118-104 National Basketball Association (NBA) win over the Utah Jazz following a bang to his knee, Kawhi Leonard had two words to say: "I'm good."
The 2019 Finals Most Valuable Player was at his dominant best, recording 31 points and seven rebounds before departing, as his team tied their Western Conference semi-final series at two games apiece on Monday.
Game 5 shifts back to Salt Lake City today and Los Angeles will need a fully-fit Leonard if they are to move within one win away from their first Western Conference Finals appearance.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue believes his star forward, who came off worse after a collision with Jazz guard Joe Ingles, will be raring to go.
"Yeah, I think so. We'll know more after the game, but yeah, I think everybody is pretty good," he said.
Both Leonard and fellow All-Star Paul George, who added 31 points, were rampant at the Staples Centre for the second game running, becoming just the fifth duo since the 1976-77 merger with at least 30 points each in back-to-back play-off games.
The Clippers led by as many as 29 points over the top-seeded team in the first half and during that period, a monster dunk by Leonard over Jazz centre Derrick Favors went viral.
Even Philadelphia 76ers centre Joel Embiid was distracted as he was doing his post-game interview following his team's 103-100 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, which levelled the Eastern Conference semi-final series at 2-2, saying: "Oh my God... wow."
George said it was just Leonard coming into his element, adding: "You see him being more aggressive, and you know what time it is.
"It's written all over him in terms of it's go time. It's play-off basketball, and you know it's winning time.
"So you see it all around him, his approach, his body language, everything gets to be great, and so he's leading the way."
However, Leonard played down the praise, claiming he was only focused on playing a major role to help the Clippers win their maiden championship.
"I don't get to see the reaction of what's on the web or social media," he said.
"I don't care about the Western Conference Finals. We're trying to win the championship. Obviously, that's the next step, but I'm not even looking at that."
Donovan Mitchell poured in a game-high 37 points to tie the Utah franchise play-off record of six straight 30-point outings held by Hall of Famer Karl Malone, but the All-Star guard admitted he could not do it alone against the Clippers' star pair.
Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert had a quiet night with 11 points and eight rebounds, as did Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson, who had eight points off the bench.
"They just were at a different level and we couldn't buy a bucket," said Mitchell. "We have to be the aggressors. They've come out and hit first both times at home."
REUTERS
