DENVER — There was a second when Kawhi Leonard leaned over with one minute and 30 seconds left, his head down trying on the court docket, exhausted from all of the work he was placing in for the Clippers.
However Leonard didn’t let fatigue cease him, his will and spirit main the Clippers to a 105-102 win over the Denver Nuggets to even the best-of-seven playoff collection at 1-1.
Leonard completed with 39 factors in 39 minutes. He was 15 for 19 from the sphere, his jumper with 54.5 seconds left offering the ultimate margin of victory. He additionally had a key steal within the ultimate minute off a nasty cross from Nikola Jokic.
“It’s difficult,” Leonard mentioned in regards to the power it takes to play in an NBA sport. “Like I said, playing here, playing against this great team, they got great players, know their roles. … Any NBA game is very hard to play, especially in the playoffs. It might look easy by just watching us and seeing how skilled we are. But these games are hard to play. You got to play every possession every minute.
The game wasn’t decided until Christian Braun missed a three and Jokic, who had a triple-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, missed a three-pointer with one second left.
Game 3 is Thursday night at the Intuit Dome.
“I thought Kawhi willed us to a win,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue mentioned.
Jamal Murray, who had 26 factors, tied the rating 100-100 on a three-pointer with 2:05 left. Michael Porter Jr. rebounded a missed shot by Leonard, however he turned it over with 1:35 left.
Clippers ahead Kawhi Leonard drives to the basket throughout Sport 2 in opposition to the Nuggets on Monday.
(Garrett Ellwood / NBAE through Getty Pictures)
Norman Powell then drilled a three-pointer to present the Clippers a 103-100 lead with 1:30 left, forcing the Nuggets to name timeout. Jokic, who had seven turnovers, then made two free throws to make it a one-point sport.
However Leonard made positive the Nuggets wouldn’t take the lead. He scored the sport’s ultimate basket on a 21-foot jumper with 54 seconds left.
“This is what Kawhi lives for,” Lue mentioned. “He’s trying to get to this point where he’s healthy for the playoffs. So we know if we got a healthy Kawhi, we can win any series. That just shows you tonight what he’s capable of doing.”
Ivica Zubac completed with 16 factors and 12 rebounds and Powell had 13 factors.
The sport figured to show testy after all of the bodily play between each groups, and issues received heated between Powell and Jamal Murray within the third quarter. Murray felt Powell pushed him coming off a display to get free. When Murray caught as much as Powell throughout the court docket, the 2 had been face-to-face, and Murray grabbed Powell and picked him up. That led to Kris Dunn and Braun getting right into a confrontation, the 2 exchanging phrases.
After a evaluation by the officers, Dunn, Powell and Braun had been referred to as for unsportsmanlike technical fouls. It was all settled with Murray taking pictures a technical free throw.
“I thought we responded well,” Lue mentioned. “It actually got Norm going. He made three shots after that. Jamal said he was just competing. It wasn’t anything dirty. Just playing hard and competing. When you are in the playoffs, if things like this don’t happen, then I don’t know if you are playing hard enough. So, it’s going to happen.”
From the beginning, Leonard was enjoying onerous, giving the Clippers his all, refusing to let something get in his manner. On the finish of the primary half, he calmly drilled a three-pointer simply earlier than the buzzer, giving the Clippers a 55-52 halftime lead. Leonard had 21 factors in 24 minutes throughout the first half, lacking simply one in all his 10 photographs and one in all his two three-pointers.
“It felt like he didn’t miss a shot,” mentioned James Harden, who had 18 factors, about Leonard. “His shot-making ability is elite. That’s the aggressiveness that we need from him. No matter what’s going on, no matter who is guarding him, he just got to his spot and raised up. So, big-time player. He played big-time tonight.”
