Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers bring down Phoenix from the start

Source of frustration all evening for Los Angeles Clippers fans, Russell Westbrook made them forget in the blink of an eye his collection of missed shots (16 out of 19!), Sunday night against Phoenix. The point guard, defending on Devin Booker, flew to reject the attempt from the back of the Suns with 10 seconds left. As soon as he fell to the ground, “Russ” threw himself to deflect the ball on his opponent, too busy claiming a foul, and recovering a crucial possession. Two free throws from Eric Gordon then sealed the deal for “LA” which took Game 1 (115-110).

“Achieving decisive actions, deflecting balls, getting offensive rebounds, putting systems in place, that’s basketball in the play-offs. You may not have a great night shooting but you have to make your impact felt somehow and that’s what he did.”, complimented Clippers star Kawhi Leonard. Deprived of Paul George (right knee), uncertain for the whole series, the LA franchise got off to the best start, in the wake of Norman Powell (14 points), author of an award-winning basket to make the first break (18- 33, 13th).

Breathtaking Leonard

Phoenix waited for the start of the third quarter to pick up. Torrey Craig converted an offering from Devin Booker into a dunk (68-68, 27th) after a ball snatched from Nicolas Batum, holder for “LA” (3 points, 2 assists). In the ropes after an 11-0 conceded (77-68, 30th), the Clippers turned to their superstar to answer. For his first playoff game since the 2021 Conference semi-final against Utah, Kawhi Leonard made a breathtaking copy with 38 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.

The MVP of the 2014 and 2019 final first brought his people back into contact with his first award-winning basket of the match (78-77, 35th). Then he took the lead in his duel against Kevin Durant (27 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists), on which he defended. Twice at the end of the match, “The Claw” (the claw) hit the mark behind the arc to contain the return of the Suns (101-106, 46th). Taken two on the next possession, he managed to find Gordon for a new award-winning arrow (103-109, 47th).

Leonard then left the hero costume to Russell Westbrook. The former Oklahoma City point guard got the foul from Booker and planted two free throws 17 seconds from the buzzer (111-108) before killing the game a few seconds later on defense. The Suns will try to react on Tuesday evening during game 2 of the series (4:30 French time).