With the playoffs approaching, the Clippers are now most concerned about Leonard's injury. Although their lineup is still inconsistent in terms of offense and defense on the inside, there are hidden dangers, but these are not worth mentioning in the face of the team's overall health. And after half a month of rest, Clippers forward Leonard, who has not had a clear message, finally reassured Clippers fans.
Leonard will make a strong comeback in the playoffs!
According to a report by well-known NBA reporter Shams, sources have revealed that Clippers forward Leonard plans to complete his comeback this weekend in G1, the first round of the playoffs against the Mavericks, and this is the latest news about Leonard's return. In the words of fans, the shorter the news in the past, the worse the Clippers became. But this time is different, Shams's short sentence has injected huge confidence into Clippers fans, everyone understands that Leonard is the real lifeblood of the Clippers, as long as he is healthy, the Clippers can compete with any team, and once he is unable to play due to injury, the strength of this Clippers will be greatly reduced, and they will withdraw from the championship ranks. There is no doubt that Leonard's comeback is more important to the Clippers than anything else.
A lot of people will be worried about Leonard's form, after all, his form will be an issue during the period of absence until he returns for the first game of the playoffs, during which he has not played for more than 20 days. But then again, on the one hand, as long as Leonard can stand on the court, it's a lot better than if he can't play. On the other hand, from the perspective of preparing for the playoffs, the Clippers and Mavericks ended the last regular season game until the playoffs began, where they all experienced a week of rest, and considering that the Mavericks, including the Eastern European pairs, also chose to rest in the last two regular season games, if you want to say that they didn't play, Doncic, Irving, Harden, George and others combined have been in a state of rotation rest for more than 10 days, which is not much less time than Leonard, everyone is similar.
Harden realizes that he has had a playoff crotch pull experience in the past!
Leonard's comeback is confirmed, and it's time for the Clippers to think about something else. Among them, Harden is considered the X-factor of the Clippers and Mavericks series. If he can play at the level of a star, the Clippers' chances of winning will undoubtedly increase dramatically, but if Harden is not up to par in terms of aggression and efficiency, the Clippers will obviously have a tough time. Before the playoffs, Harden's sluggish state was subjected to all kinds of cynicism, and he was complained about entering the "playoff state" ahead of schedule.
Harden's exact words are this: "I always want to play well in the playoffs, I've had some bad games, but I've had some really good games, and for me, I have only one goal, and that's winning, and that's the only thing I'm missing at a high level." Harden said it very tactfully, but it can be seen from his statement that Harden himself is very aware of his past playoff experience, which is not very convincing for a superstar. Aware of this, Harden should turn his fortunes around this playoffs, and there's no better time for him to do so, as he doesn't need to be the team's number one star or even the second leading scorer, as he has done in the past.
With George and Leonard on the side, Harden has to do a good job of organizing the tandem on the one hand, which is not a big problem. Harden, on the other hand, needs to improve his offensive aggressiveness. In the scoring area, he can't completely let go, how to average 15-18 points per game is also needed, under this premise, Harden needs to improve his efficiency as much as possible, he and Doncic This group of matchups is the most concerned by the outside world, how much Doncic can Harden offset the loss, this is the core issue of whether the Clippers are playing hard or not.