Kawhi Leonard‘s absence didn’t hold back the Clippers in Game 1 against the Mavericks, in part because James Harden ramped up his scoring, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN notes. Harden scored 28 points, including 20 in the first half as his team built a 26-point halftime lead en route to a 12-point victory.
- The Clippers believe they can more than hold the fort until Leonard’s knee is healthy enough for him to play, Paul George told Janis Carr of the Orange County Register and other media members. “I mean, we still have more than enough,” George said. “Obviously Kawhi puts us well over the top, but we still got more than enough. So, I think we still got experience. We still, like I said we got enough to win games. Obviously, we want Kawhi back when he’s ready, but I still think we have enough confidence to continue to push forward and win games when we need to. We’re going to hold it down until Kawhi comes back. Honestly, he is the piece we do need if we plan on winning it all and getting to where we want to get to. But we’re going to hold it down for him until he’s ready to return and we feel comfortable with where we’re at.”