[brid autoplay=”true” video=”806449″ player=”23231″ title=”Can%20Paul%20George%20and%20the%20Clippers%20close%20out%20Donovan%20Mitchell%20and%20the%20Jazz%20without%20Kawhi%20Leonard” duration=”70″ description=”Carolyn Manno asks Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix if the Los Angeles Clippers can advance past the top-seeded Utah Jazz without Kawhi Leonard.” uploaddate=”2021-06-18″ thumbnailurl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/thumb/806449_t_1623955164.png” contentUrl=”//cdn.brid.tv/live/partners/17660/sd/806449.mp4″]
Paul George will have to do it again if the Los Angeles Clippers want to make their first conference finals appearance. Kawhi Leonard has already been ruled out for Game 6 of the Clippers’ Western Conference Semifinals series against the Utah Jazz.
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue relayed that message to reporters one day before his team is set to go for the series-clinching win at home against Utah.
Leonard suffered the injury late in Game 4’s win over the Jazz. Initially, it did not seem to be too serious. However, reports broke ahead of Wednesday’s game that Kawhi Leonard was in fact dealing with a knee injury.
Right now, there’s no further word on the severity of the injury. Lue classified it as a “right knee sprain.” However, there’s concerns from Clipper-land that it’s an ACL injury. Those are three letters no team wants to be mentioned in connection with its star player. Swelling will have to go down before Leonard can receive official word via an MRI.
As for the Clippers, they rode an absolutely dazzling performance from Paul George to a huge road win against Utah Wednesday evening. The embattled forward quieted naysayers by recording 37 points, 16 rebounds and five assists. He can now lead Los Angeles to its first ever Western Conference Finals appearance against the Phoenix Suns.
If Los Angeles does advance, there’s no word yet on whether Kawhi Leonard will be available. Prior to going down with the aforementioned injury, the two-time NBA Finals MVP was averaging 30.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists on a resounding 57% shooting from the field in the playoffs.
