LOS ANGELES – The LA Clippers had poets Leonard and Paul George back on Friday, and the timing would not have been better.
Winners of 20 of the previous 21 games, including an 18-point victory over the Clippers on Wednesday, returned to the Staples Center for the second straight game of The Sergeant Utah Jazz. And the Clippers wanted to show where they were against the top team instead of the West.
Leonard scored 29 points and came up with two big offensive bounces in the final minute to help the Clippers hold on to a nine-game winning streak of jazz, 116-112, and Utah.
Clippers coach Ty Lu said they are currently the best team in the NBA on record. “We know they’ve won 20 out of 21 tonight. We’ve got our people back, and we want to win this game.”
Clippers (22-9) George missed the previous seven games due to swelling of his right foot after his two stars returned to the court and Leonard sat out the last three matches due to the lower part of his left foot. The Clippers’ start lineup was back, while front-runner Nicholas Batum also returned after missing the last two matches.
“I’m happy today that I was able to get out and play today,” said Leonard, who wore a sleeve to the bottom of his left leg. “We were able to get healthy and start all five there, and that’s about it. We want to get better. We haven’t had a chance to play with a full, healthy roster for the last two weeks or so. So hopefully Is that we can get some blessings and be able to stay healthy to end up All Star [break] Is started. “
The Jazz (24-6) also had guard Mike Conley (right hamstring) in the lineup for this show 24 down between the two best teams in the West. Conley scored 16 points, but it was Donovan Mitchell who kept the jazz streak almost alive. Mitchell scored 35 points, coming up 29 in the second half. The defender scored 12 points in the final 1:23, while he helped reduce Utah with 13 seconds left at the end of the 13-point.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert said the game “felt like a playoff game – the intensity, the tough shots they make all night.”
For Utah, this was a barely tight game. During their 20-1 draw, Jazz scored seven minutes in clutch time, while the score is within five points in the final five minutes. That’s the lowest number in the NBA during that period.
“There’s a lot of different things we’ve seen during this stretch,” Mitchell said. “Today, we are not here to be satisfied with what happens tomorrow. In the second half of the season and for the playoffs we are preparing for the long stalemate. We continue to be this team, not just this team in the first part of the season.”
Like the Jazz, who blew a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs last season, the Clippers are also trying to be better than the previous posts ason. They took a 3-1 series lead against the Nuggets in the second round.
The Clippers will need healthy Leonard and George to move forward this season. George said he has been playing with a sore toe and has been able to manage it with a one-day break between games until he plays back-to-back games against Brooklyn and Cleveland. George then experienced swelling and had to stop until the swelling and pain subsided.
“We played Brooklyn and then Cleveland, two tough games that really got me kicked out, planted and kicked that toe off,” said George, who had six points and five assists in 15 minutes. “Just the same backstage commented on me overboard and I couldn’t recover. I had to skip a bit because it was tangled. I just tried to keep it rolling for the team, and it kept going over me.”
“I feel good,” George added, feeling how his toes feel to get out of the game. “Just getting back into the swing of things.”
The same can be said for the Clippers, who enjoyed a healthy return of the stars against the red-hot jazz.
“We’re Basketball .l fans at the end of the day, and, of course, you’ll see the noise made during the season,” Clippers guard Patrick Beverly said of the Jazz’s 20-1 draw. “We really wanted what we had left, we got out of the gas by the end [on Wednesday]. You have to give credit to Utah. They got the hell of the system, the Hella players, the coaches.
“It was a tough game, and it’s the kind of game you want in the NBA, and we’re definitely lucky to have won.”
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