How Kawhi Leonard’s LATE EXIT Killed The LA Clippers Against The Lakers
LA Clippers lose heartbreaker to Los Angeles Lakers as Kawhi Leonard’s minutes restriction sparks flashbacks to December frustrations. Can the Clippers afford to limit their superstar when every win matters in the playoff race? Die hard Los Angeles Clippers fan and Host Darian Vaziri breaks down the 125-122 loss, questioning the late-game decision to pull Kawhi, examining the impact of John Collins’ injury, and exploring how the team coped without Darius Garland.
Spotlight shines on Benedict Mathurin’s scoring surge, with 26 points leading a shorthanded Clippers bench, while Brook Lopez delivers a season-high rebounding night. Key talking points include the Clippers’ late-game execution, defensive matchups against LeBron James and Luka Dončić, and lineup questions as the rotation tightens. With a critical matchup ahead against the Orlando Magic, Darian Vaziri highlights what must improve for the Clippers to stay in playoff contention.
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34 Comments
I’m buying MATHURIN’s jersey 💯
LeFlop making it clear, he's not in my GOAT convo (Yanic's "elbow" sending him to the floor was cringe).
I think you’re wrong about Kawhi & load management on this one. Take the time to rewatch… just prior to Kawhi coming out, around the 7:26 mark, it’s when he gets hurt… This is when he starts slowing down shortly after that they take them out.. He started moving gingerly… He was slowly getting up and down the court like he was injured. I honestly thought before they took him out he’s injured… based off of how slow he was reacting and getting up and down the court.
Ngl. I really wanted us to move on from Brook but he’s been consistently solid ever since the Zu trade.
Hope it's load management and not an ankle injury
kawhi is always injured. And Lebron and Harden are always playing.
They pulled him early because he forgot to plant the required amount of trees this week.
Watch at the 7:26 mark of the fourth quarter… that’s when he gets hurt…then he starts to slow down and then shortly after that they take him out.
kawhi looked like he was slowing down for some reason
Yeah you only beat us this season because AR was hurt.. so clearly whoever has more of their team healthy has a better shot at winning.. but this was the first game this starting 5 has played together all season.. so it was a pretty even matchup.. other then beenadictk flopping getting to the foul line twice as much as AR.. those refs kept you in it..
How does a team have 3 All Star's, shoot 55% from 3, at home, and only win by 3? League Pass blocked this one out so I didn't see it but I would think it's actually a good sign The Clippers came close to stealing this game, especially on the far end of back to backs. Maybe Darius Garland gets them over the hump?
Kawhi found out one of the under-table checks didn’t clear, and so he checked out.
Unreal that Kawhi is banged up again! Steph, Devin, Luca, and Shai all took the All-Star break off to lick their wounds, but, no, Kawhi goes and plays hard and now, two games into the second half, he's out again. I'm afraid that's it for me as a Clipper fan. ☹️
F the lakers! They get weird calls. JC gets his legs undercut and no flagrant foul smh!? Sanders should’ve played over Batum. And how we get the nuggets and the lakers on a back to back is crazy!
CLIPS STILL RUN LA!
Everybody says Kawaii looks like he was slowing down. Of course he was on her back to back.
Gambling is the reasoñ he was taken out. Lakers were suppose to win. You can thank gambling for that. Wake up ppl.
Last night game teams needs Jorden Miller but he didn’t show , TY have to put Batum in so he can defensive Luka need to play tougher defensive on Luka
When anyone guard Luka no need double teams let him put the ball on the floor let him score 2 points not just stand make 3 points
@lockedonclippers it’s ty Lue he’s a LeBron lover he always pulls Kawhi when we play the lakers
Idk dime ben did make it to the finals and played a pivotal role as a scorer so ill say he’s proven enough for him and reaves to be on the same level at least
Kawhi was literally limping around
Jones, Leonard they are injury what i see..
The refs helpen the Lakers man
Lakers is nothing man first round out in the playoffs
Fire Ty Lue for not getting the team ready. I'd have been good seeing Clips lose to the Nuggets, but how do these mfers lose to the lowly Lakers? Come tf on!
what do you think about swapping an effective 'dribbler' for another dribbler (who is less effective), the only difference is you have no personal 'wack' vendetta against DG that you have for JH aint that right? and how's ty lue going? taking kawhi out for no reason, not suss at all, youre full of it… PS we are ALL fans of the game of basketball just you mate, holier than thou much?!
The Clippers are much better than the Flakers.
I have to disagree D, I think Kobe Sanders has been the best point guard on this roster all season, better than Dunn. He’s had a couple bad shooting games but he doesn’t turn over the ball and he gets the ball to who needs to get it. He also play very solid D and he’s head & shoulders above Jordan Miller. I know some fans love Miller but his game has serious flaws in it; isn’t a playmaker, doesn’t play D and against the better team can be shut down.
Let's all be honest, even with the Lakers having one of their best shooting nights in years and the injuries in the fourth quarter we still had a chance to send us into overtime. Let's not forget that it's seven against five as well, especially in the fourth quarter with the flops and the BS calls. However the Clippers already know they have to put up with that so that can never be an excuse because all the other teams in the NBA know this before they play the Lakers.
With all of those things against The Clippers last night and missing their best player for the last half of the fourth quarter It was a very positive game in my honest opinion 💯👍👍👍
P.S. Maybe he was only supposed to play 30 because of the back to back….
If Kawhi was pissed about having to leave the game, that is the only thing that I can think of making sense 🤔
La FAKERS
kawhi just said he is playing the best and healthy basketball of his career again .. so brittle 😅😅
Until we get garland back we should always play Sanders over Batum.
Miller gets lost on defense a lot. Missed layups and poor decisions. He bricked a 3!
Yanic had rookie mistakes, the elbow to lebrick, the 3sec in the paint, etc.
Overall we played really well for a back to back! GO CLIPS!
Dude the Clippers literally handed OKC Shai and Jalen Williams for Paul George. What’s even worse, your owner Steve hates the ownership of OKC too. Owner Clay moved the Sonics away from Seattle (Steve’s hometown) to OKC (Clay’s Hometown) all in bad faith. And now the Clippers are going to receive punishment because of Uncle Dennis as Microsoft is plummeting. Steve literally lost 40 billion dollars last month WTF