INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard is fresh in mind and body this year, no longer relegated to watching from the sideline when the Los Angeles Clippers begin the postseason.
After appearing in just two playoff games over the last two years, the 33-year-old two-time Finals MVP is healthy and looking like his old self as the fifth-seeded Clippers take on the fourth-seeded Nuggets in the first round starting Saturday in Denver.
“Just happy that I was able to get here,” he said. “My teammates did a great job down that last stretch.”
The Clippers have been a much different team since Leonard got healthy and found his rhythm. He missed the first 34 games of the season because of lingering issues with his surgically repaired knees.
Los Angeles won 18 of its final 21 games, a stretch in which it had the NBA's No. 1 offense.
“It feels good for us and him playing at a high level helps our team out tremendously,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “I'm happy for him for all the hard work he's put in to get to this point and to be healthy at the end of the season.”
Leonard won two NBA championships — one with San Antonio and another with Toronto — but his health has been a major issue during his five years in Los Angeles.
In 2020-21, he hurt his knee in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against Utah and missed the rest of the series. The Clippers advanced to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history and lost to Phoenix.
Leonard sat out the entire 2021-22 season while rehabbing his knee. He came back strong in 2022-23 only to tear his meniscus in the first round of the playoffs. Last season, he hurt his right knee and played in just two games as the Clippers lost in the first round to Dallas.
“I love the game and I have a passion for it still,” he said. “I love to compete out there, so that's pretty much what drives me back. Everything has its ups and downs and you got to go through those in life. You just keep going.”
Leonard has said the Clippers allowed him to seek outside opinions on his health and then blend that information with the team's medical staff to get healthy.
“The biggest thing is just trusting,” Lue said, crediting medical staff president Maggie Bryant with showing Leonard different ways he could do things to be healthy at the end of the 82-game regular season.
“They didn't let him shortcut, checked every box before he came back and he's been feeling good,” Lue said.
All the injury and strife has crystalized Leonard's focus.
“Just don't take the opportunity for granted and try to play my best and that's it,” he said. “Just having fun.”
Leonard has always come to play in the postseason, averaging 29.3 points while shooting 63% in 60 games between 2017 and 2020.
“It's just leaving it all out on the floor and then just going into the summer knowing that you tried to give it your all,” he said.
The Clippers begin the postseason as the league's hottest team, having won eight in a row. Leonard scored 33 points on 13 of 20 shooting in an overtime win at Golden State to close out the regular season.
“You can just tell when he's able to play and be healthy and play the game he loves at the level that he knows he can play at,” teammate Norman Powell said.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Beth Harris, The Associated Press
