Inside: The Clippers’ Leonard and Suns’ Paul stay connected with teams.
The injury report lists them as OUT, but they’re not forgotten. Not even for a fleeting moment.
Kawhi Leonard and Chris Paul couldn’t compete in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals between Phoenix and the Clippers on Sunday afternoon. The stars were sidelined because of a sprained knee and COVID-19 health and safety protocols, respectfully, but the team’s stars contributed anyway.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said Leonard has remained “very involved” despite being sidelined for the final two games of their second-round series against Utah with the knee issue, reported to be related to his ACL.
“Even Game 6, down 22 at halftime, he came into the coaches’ office, just talking about different strategies and just wanted to know our game plan, how we are going to start and what’s our coverages,” Lue said. “Things like that. So he’s very engaged.”
DeMarcus Cousins, the Clippers’ veteran big man, said Leonard has been feeding his teammates as much knowledge as he can.
“Putting his expertise on the game and just giving advice, pointers for guys that had to fill in for him and guys filling in for roles that are backups now,” Cousins said. “He’s still being that leader for the team, using his voice. Obviously, the situation sucks that he’s in, but he’s engaged as much as he can be.”
Reggie Jackson said the stoic star has “been here vocally,” expressing confidence in his teammates while he receives treatment in an effort to hasten his return, which the Clippers eagerly await after dropping the first game of their first conference finals series, 120-114.
“He’s doing everything he can to still have an impact on this team while he’s away and doing everything he can to make sure he gets back as fast as possible,” Jackson said. “We would love to have him. It’s unfortunate, injuries, any time. Not just us – throughout the entire league, it’s been tough for injuries.
“But nobody’s made excuses. Like I said, until he gets back, we have to have a next-man-up mentality. We just have to figure out a way to be better.”
On Phoenix’s side, it wasn’t only Paul’s voice they were hearing – they saw his face, too.
Devin Booker – who recorded his first career triple-double with 40 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists
– walked off the court with his cell phone in hand, having a conversation with Paul.
“We put him on FaceTime,” Booker said. “He’s our leader. We lean on him for a lot and we know how disappointed he is and frustrated he is that he couldn’t be out here for Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, especially knowing his past history around this time.
“But we know we had him all the way through. We brought him in the locker room. We had him in our after-game huddle. So he’s proud of us. He’s ready to get back. He’s working and we can’t wait to have him.”
“He was excited, but he was holding up this: Finger one,” the Suns’ Jae Crowder said. “It was one game. We did what we were supposed to do. We held them down and we made plays on both ends of the court. But he was very excited, he had a smile on his face.”
Chin up
The Clippers’ Jackson wasn’t smiling like he typically is, even after losses.
Instead, he was kicking himself for his five turnovers, including several ill-advised passes, one of which was picked off by Mikal Bridges and led to a fast-break dunk that put Phoenix ahead, 113-104 with 2:35 to play.
“I’ll take this one on the chin,” said Jackson, who played a postseason-high 39 minutes. Jackson is averaging 3.4 assists and 1.4 turnovers per game this postseason.
“Guys played well,” he said. “I had five turnovers. I can’t do that. When you need baskets when it was a tie game, I did a poor job of allowing us to get shots and giving ourselves a chance. I’ve got to be better.”
Paul George acknowledged that fatigue likely contributed to Jackson’s miscues.
“Reggie has been huge for us,” George said. “He can’t really get down on himself. He’s carried us and he’s pulled us out of holes. He’s made plays on top of plays which is a big reason why we are in the position we are.
“Not every game is going to be perfect. Our job is to pick him up with him feeling down. Our job is to pick him up. We need Reg. I thought he still played great tonight. We all have turnovers. We all have bad stretches. When I have bad stretches, my guys are there for me and keep me going. We’ll do the same thing for Reggie, tell him to move on and tell him to make the same plays he made tonight in Game 2.”