Kawhi Leonard leads Mavs-Clippers game

In Sunday’s game against the Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard showed no signs of a partial ACL tear that kept him out for the entire 2021-22 season.

Moving around the court like a nimble operator, Leonard scored a game-high 30 points, was 10 of 18 from the field and 4 of 7 from threepoint—and made all seven of his free throw attempts to help the Clippers thrash the Mavs 112–98 at the American Airlines Center. He also grabbed nine rebounds and continues to return to a career that saw him join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players to win the Most Valuable Player award in the multi-team NBA Finals.

Leonard won these coveted awards with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. And on Sunday he played again, as before.

“In terms of Kawaii, he is one of the best players in the league,” said coach Jason Kidd. “He complicates things offensively and defensively with his hands and anticipation of what will happen.”

Waiting for Leonard helped lead the Mavs to fall to 25–23 on the season, losing for the seventh time in the last 10 games.

Here are three takeaways from the Clippers loss.

A TALE OF TWO HALVES: In the first half of Sunday, the Mavs showed enough attack and defense to win any game. They scored 54 points, shot on 44.2 percent from the field, pinned the Clippers with just 38.1 percent and won the rebounding battle 24-23. But in the second half, the Clippers outscored the Mavs (63-44) in rebounding (22-14). In the second half, the Mavs shot 43.2% from field, while Clipper shot 55.9 percent.

PROBLEMS WITH FREE THROWS: No one should remind the Mavs of their troubles on the free throw line against the Clippers. While the Clippers made 30 of 31 attempts from the free throw line, the Mavs made just 15 of 26 from the charity line. And many of those misses were just heartbreaking misses that cast water on potential plays that could help the Mavs get back into the game. In the fourth quarter, the Mavs were 4 of 10 from the free throw line and the Clippers were 10 of 10.

SMALL LINE: Things changed fairly quickly in that game when Clippers center Ivica Zubac was charged with his fourth foul with 3:35 left in the third quarter and Los Angeles held a narrow 70-69 lead. After that, the Clippers moved to a small roster and quickly beat the Mavs 42–29 for the remainder of the game. In essence, Clippers wingers Norman Powell, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George beat the Mavs 26–19 in the fourth quarter.

Twitter: @DwainPrice