Clippers get Kawhi Leonard back, but Mavericks even series with Game 2 win – Daily News

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LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard played his first game in more than three weeks on Tuesday night and by his own estimation, his performance was just OK. Not great, not bad, just so-so.

“I got, even if my wind is low, I got to find a way (to play better),” said Leonard, who had not played since March 31.

Leonard logged 35 minutes in his return to the lineup, and the Clippers needed every rusty second. And it still wasn’t enough.

The Clippers made a push in the final two minutes but couldn’t overcome a poor shooting night and lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 96-93, in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series as the visitors evened the best-of-seven set at 1-1.

The series now moves to Dallas for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said it will take some time for Leonard to get his timing back but he’s going to have to put a rush job on it if the Clippers hope to advance in the Western Conference playoffs.

“I thought he just let the game come to him and then in the third quarter, I think we got down nine and he kind of just took over the game as far as scoring to basketball on offense, rebounding, steals and things like that,” Lue said.

“We played that hard … but they came in and won the game. We didn’t play our best, and so we are ready to go to Dallas, we will be ready on Friday.”

Trailing 90-81, the Clippers closed the gap to within 92-88 with a 7-2 run, capped by two free throws by Paul George with 27.1 seconds remaining.  After Derrick Jones Jr. made one of two free throws, Leonard drove to the basket for a layup that cut the margin to 93-90 with 20 seconds left.

Kyrie Irving was called for a foul, which the Mavs challenged and had overturned. Irving made three of four free throws to close out the game before George sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Leonard’s progress from inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee was, at times, a cat-and-mouse ordeal. Was he healthy? Would he play? Can he run? Questions that were met with evasive answers.

As the days turned into weeks, the conversation went from he’s not ready to play to he could play with three days practice to he is out for Game 1. He hadn’t even had any contact practices since March 31, but his status finally became clear when he took the court during warm-ups on Tuesday, giving the Clippers the perennial All-Star they had missed for the past nine games.

Leonard said he hasn’t been able to do much throughout the three weeks except rehabilitation and trying to back on the floor. He was encouraged that his knee felt fine after the game.

“We still got more games to play, more time to get better and that’s what I’m focused on,” he said.

Although Leonard was off his game, scoring 15 points – well below his regular-season average of 23.7 points – he grabbed seven rebounds, came up with four steals and had two assists.

Lue was encouraged by Leonard’s performance after his three-week layoff, pointing out that his timing will come with more minutes. He was not under a minutes restriction Tuesday.

“I thought in the second half, in the third quarter, he really got active,” Lue said. “Couple of offensive rebounds, putbacks to kind of get him going as far as getting the rhythm as far as his plays and getting his shots and things like that.

“That’s going to come. I thought eventually there were some good things, some steals, some deflections, and it was just good to have him back on the floor so we’d be able to make it work.”

George said he wasn’t concerned about Leonard’s 7-for-17 shooting from the field, adding that his rhythm will return.

“Kawhi is one of the best in the world,” George said. “He’s going to find his rhythm. We’re going to find our rhythm around him. We feel good about it despite, I don’t ever like to take or look at the moral victories we lost, which is frustrating and upsetting, but it is great having ‘2’ back out there with us and we’ll all adjust. We’ll get our timing back, our rhythm back and getting a better flow.”

Leonard wasn’t the only Clippers player off their mark on Tuesday. George and James Harden each had 22 points, but the team shot a season-worst 36.8% from the field and 26.7% from 3-point range (8 for 30).

Ivica Zubac added 13 points and 12 rebounds, but Russell Westbrook had just seven points, Norman Powell scored six and Terance Mann added five.

Meanwhile, Dallas made 14 of its 33 3-point attempts (42.4%) and shot 42.1% from the field. Luka Doncic scored a game-high 32 points to go with six rebounds and nine assists. Irving added 23 points and six rebounds for the Mavericks, who led for most of the game two days after they trailed by 29 points and eventually lost, 109-97. P.J. Washington Jr. added 18 points.

The game was sloppy with a combined 42 fouls and 23 turnovers between the teams and neither team shot well. Still, the Mavericks maintained an advantage for most of the night as the Clippers fought to regain their poise from Game 1.

They finally found that composure and their shot in the fourth quarter, taking their biggest lead of the game at 73-67 on a 3-pointer by Powell and a layup by Zubac with 9:32 left.

Then their offense went stagnant, and the Mavs used a 14-0 run to open an 81-73 lead. Washington hit a 3-pointer in front of the Clippers’ bench, and Doncic and Irving followed with 3-pointers of their own, prompting a “Let’s go, Mavericks” chant to break out.

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