Kawhi Leonard is about to return to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are far from returning to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Both teams will be without key players when they meet on Monday night in New Orleans.
Leonard hasn’t played this season because of knee inflammation, but he returned to practice more than a week ago and is reportedly ready to play as soon as Jan. 4, though he won’t be on the Clippers’ three-game road trip starting on. New Orleans.
The Clippers were also without Terence Mann (finger), Kevin Porter Jr. (illness) and Kobe Brown (back) in their most recent game, a 102-92 home win against Golden State on Friday.
With no six-time All-Star, Los Angeles compiled the fifth-best record in the Western Conference (tied with the crosstown Lakers). Head coach Tyronn Lue said believing they can win without Leonard is “part of the battle.”
“When you step on the floor, no matter who’s on the field, feeling like we can win games has been our example for the last five years or so,” Lue said. “We talked about holding it down until Kawhi can come back, and our team has been doing that well.”
The Clippers had six scorers against Golden State, led by 26 points from Norman Powell, who was the team’s leading scorer (24.2) in Leonard’s absence. Center Ivica Zubac had his seventh straight double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds).
They built a 21-point lead, watched the short-handed Warriors get within three with 2:30 left, and kept going. Los Angeles committed 12 of 23 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“It was a big win for us, but if you look at it,” said Lue. “In three days, though, I won’t remember how we won. I’ll just know it was a W.”
The Pelicans would appreciate any kind of win after losing their last nine games and 18 of their last 19. And no return date has been set for either of the team’s top two players. Williamson has missed 26 games and Ingram has missed 14.
New Orleans has not led in either of its last two games – home losses against Memphis (132-124) on Friday and Houston (128-111) the night before.
“(We have to) try to do it from the beginning, play hard from the beginning so we don’t always get out of the hole,” said forward Trey Murphy III, who led the Pelicans with a season-high 35 points against the team. Grizzlies.
Murphy is averaging a career-best 20.2 points per game and has averaged 26.2 over the past five games. He’s New Orleans’ best three-point shooter, but without Williamson and Ingram he’s had to expand his scoring repertoire.
“(Against Memphis) he played well the whole game,” coach Willie Green said of Murphy. “When the ball came to him, he made some great plays. He was solid, he shot the cover off the ball. He got to the basket, he got to the free throw line. This is a great opportunity for Trey, and he made the most of it.”
–Field Level Media
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