Stephen A. Smith is frightened about one star on the LA Clippers, regardless of him exhibiting that his kind is not any fluke heading into the playoffs.
The LA Clippers received their most vital sport of the season. By defeating the Golden State Warriors, the Clippers sealed the fifth seed for themselves.
Now, the Clippers should face the Denver Nuggets in a first-round playoff collection. Whereas the Nuggets are a powerful crew on paper, the Clippers have proven they’ll hold with anybody within the West.
The Clippers have a 50-32 file this NBA season, practically similar to their file final yr. And on condition that the Clippers have by no means made it out of the play-in match earlier than, it’s good that they secured a assured playoff spot.
However how far can the Clippers go within the playoffs? Effectively, in keeping with Stephen A. Smith, they’ve two of the largest wildcards within the Western Convention.
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Talking on NBA As we speak’s countdown present, the ever-boisterous Stephen A. Smith gave his top-five listing of the largest wildcards within the West heading into the playoffs.
He put James Harden and Kawhi Leonard and third and first on his listing, respectively. He introduced up Harden’s failures within the playoffs and Leonard’s well being as the principle causes for doubting them.
“[James Harden] deserves all of the love on the planet for the sort of season he has had, and has led the Clippers to having…”
“That is the difficulty with James Harden. He normally does these sorts of issues within the common season. What are you going to do within the post-season? Typically he reveals up, typically he doesn’t.”
“I don’t care that Kawhi Leonard is capturing 49% from the sector and 40% from three… Right here’s the underside line. We all know what this two-time champion and Finals MVP can do – when he’s on the court docket!”
“The query is – is he going to be there? Does this brother have the sturdiness to be accessible? The most effective potential is availability. That’s the solely query relating to Kawhi Leonard, however it’s a large one.
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Final season, Kawhi Leonard performed 68 video games. Many felt that his availability final season meant his damage woes had been behind him.
However the second the playoffs started, Leonard got here up damage once more. And the Clippers would lose to the Mavericks within the first spherical of the playoffs.
Leonard’s damage troubles stored him out for greater than half of this season as nicely. However within the 37 video games he has performed, Kawhi has slowly however certainly discovered his kind once more.
Maybe that is the yr Leonard makes a return to his vaunted playoff kind. His present season averages of 21.5 factors, 5.9 rebounds and three.1 assists will look meager if we see the Kawhi Leonard that received a championship with the Raptors six years in the past.
