After figuring out how to tread water over the past four games, the Los Angeles Clippers are more than ready to welcome back star Kawhi Leonard.
A left hip contusion kept Leonard on the bench as the Clippers went 2-2 following a nine-game winning streak. Leonard could return Monday at home against the Miami Heat after he was a full participant in practice Sunday.
“We’ll see (Monday). Yeah, we’ll see how he comes out of this,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before the team worked on its game plan for the Heat.
The Heat just had mixed results with stars returning to the court. Bam Adebayo missed seven games to open December, and Miami went 4-3. Upon Adebayo’s return, the Heat went 4-1 until a 117-109 loss to the host Utah Jazz on Saturday.
Jimmy Butler returned Saturday from a calf injury only to depart in the third quarter with a right foot injury. Butler was held to eight points while taking just three shots from the floor in 23 minutes. He will not play on Monday.
As Miami arrives in Los Angeles for the first of two consecutive games, with a meeting against the Lakers on Wednesday, they will have emerging rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. in town for his homecoming.
Jaquez, who helped UCLA to the Final Four in 2021, started in every game of the Heat’s recent four-game winning streak and averaged 19.3 points, with a career-best 31 points and 10 rebounds in a Christmas Day victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
“He understands the way we want to play,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said of Jaquez, according to Yahoo Sports. “Some of these things are new to him, but from a competitive spirit standpoint, he fits very seamlessly with how we do things.”
Jaquez was back with the reserve unit at Utah and had nine points on 2-of-9 shooting with one rebound as Butler returned. Adebayo had 28 points and 16 rebounds, shooting a career-high 20 free throws while tying his career best by making 14 of them.
Tyler Herro had 25 points for Miami, and in addition to Butler leaving early, Haywood Highsmith departed late in the fourth quarter following a collision with Utah’s Collin Sexton. Highsmith is listed as doubtful for the meeting with Los Angeles.
“We had enough to get it done,” Herro said. “We won four straight before that so that’s not an excuse. We should have won the game.”
The Clippers enter Monday coming off Friday’s 117-106 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, who lost for the first time with Ja Morant on the court this season. Paul George scored 23 points for the Clippers, while Ivica Zubac had 15 points and a season-high 20 rebounds.
“To close the month out was really good, knowing we got a tough month ahead of us in January,” Lue said about the Clippers going 11-2 in December.
James Harden has averaged 17.7 points and 7.9 assists in his first 26 games with the Clippers, with those numbers up to 20.5 points and 9.0 assists per game in the four games Leonard missed. Harden had 16 points and 13 assists against the Grizzlies.
–Field Level Media
