With 10:16 left to play in Game 7 on Saturday, Kawhi Leonard sat on the bench and stared at nothing. He spoke to no one, and he looked at no one. The Clippers star wing player appeared lost in thought, no doubt pondering, like many around the team, what might have been if the team had shown up in the final game.
Against the more physical Denver Nuggets, the Clippers didn’t display the kind of fight that had gotten them to a decisive game in their best-of-seven first-round NBA Playoff series. The teams were even and the first six games were intense where every possession mattered, all living up to the hype between the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds.
But when push came to shove, and there was plenty of that in the physical match-up, the Clippers were again left on the outside looking in as the Nuggets advanced to the second round with a resounding 120-101 victory Saturday in Denver.
They have not reached the second round in three seasons.
And yet, there was no visible urgency Saturday to extend their postseason. James Harden, who had played spectacularly in his 16th season, scored seven points in 36 minutes, then left the arena without explanation.
Guard Norman Powell, who had struggled to regain his shooting touch after missing 11 games because of two different injuries, finished with nine points, missing all three of his 3-point attempts.
Even the usual steady Ivica Zubac, who had 59 double-doubles this season, had a quiet game with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
“Tough loss,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue told reporters in Denver. “Not playing our best game in a situation like this – a lot of emotions.”
This wasn’t like two seasons ago when the Clippers were eliminated convincingly by the Phoenix Suns in five games, or last season when they were bounced by the Dallas Mavericks in six games after Leonard suffered a knee injury that kept him out of the Olympics and the first 34 games of this season.
This season, starting from day one, the Clippers had overachieved, and overcome low expectations, to get to the playoffs. They were not predicted to win more than 30-35 games.
With Leonard indefinitely on the shelf to start, Harden, Powell and Zubac carried the team to a 19-15 record, setting the stage for the return of the two-time MVP Finals forward, who played his first game Jan. 4.
From there, the Clippers cruised to 50 wins, including a crucial overtime victory against the Golden State Warriors in the regular-season finale that locked down the No. 5 seed.
“It’s hard because when you lose the last game and you get eliminated, it’s tough to think about all that,” Lue said of the season overall. “(We were) supposed to win 35 games and we win 50 games, get to the fifth seed, and play against a really good team. We had our opportunities, and then tonight, like I said, it was a tough loss for us.”
Now that the season is over, there’s bound to be plenty of finger pointing, none of which should be directed at Leonard.
Leonard was a difficult assignment for the Nuggets, averaging a series-leading 25.0 points to go with 7.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists, while shooting 53.7% from the field and 40.5% on 3’s. He didn’t come out with a series victory, but Leonard came out of it healthy for the first time since 2020, which is something the Clippers can build upon going forward.
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