INGLEWOOD — Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said they want to win every time they step on the court, but not at the risk of Kawhi Leonard’s health and not with the postseason looming.
So, the seven-time All-Star, who had played in 65 of their first 81 games, sat in gray sweats while the rest of the Clippers closed out the regular season with a 115-110 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night at the Intuit Dome.
Lue said Leonard has been dealing with nagging wrist and ankle injuries and decided to give him a night off heading into the four-team Western Conference Play-In Tournament.
“We thought it would be smart tonight just to try to get him as close to 100% as we can get him before we play on Wednesday, or it could be Tuesday as well, just give him that extra day,” Lue said.
While the victory gave the Clippers (42-40) a winning record for the 15th consecutive season – the longest active streak in the NBA and the fourth-longest in league history – it didn’t change their postseason standing.
Their loss to the Portland Trail Blazers (42-40) on Friday all but handcuffed the Clippers to the No. 9 seed for the Play-In. Only an unlikely loss by the Blazers to the 59-loss Sacramento Kings on Sunday night would have given the Clippers a chance to leapfrog them back into the eighth spot.
Portland didn’t lose and held a tiebreaker (better conference record), leaving the Clippers – who overcame a 6-21 start to the season – as the No. 9 seed. They will host the 10th-seeded Warriors (37-45) in an elimination game on Wednesday night. The winner advances to a Friday night road game against the loser of the 7-vs.-8 Play-In game (Portland at Phoenix) for the right to be the No. 8 seed and face top-seeded defending champ Oklahoma City (64-18) in a best-of-seven first-round series.
The Warriors, who have endured an injury-plagued season, have known their fate for more than a week and looked forward to putting the regular season behind them.
“It’s hard to (get excited about) when there’s not much on the line. I think we’ve had spurts of good basketball, but we know we’re going to have to put together a good four quarters on Wednesday,” Coach Steve Kerr said before Sunday’s game, looking ahead to the Play-In Tournament.
“Tonight’s another chance to make a step in that direction, but again it’s a different feeling when the game or the result doesn’t matter.”
The Warriors held out four-time All-Star forward Draymond Green for similar reasons, although officially, it was because of a sore neck. And without their key starters, both teams struggled to score in the first half.
The Clippers, though, finally found their touch from 3-point range, shooting 35.9% (14 for 39) led by reserve guard Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Bogdanovic has seen limited minutes this season, but with Leonard on the bench, he scored 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting overall and a 5-for-8 effort from 3-point range in 21 minutes. His consecutive 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter gave the Clippers a 99-87 lead and the Warriors got no closer than the final margin after that.
Bennedict Mathurin shook off his recent slump to score a team-high 20 points to go with nine rebounds and eight assists.
John Collins finished with 18 points and nine rebounds despite foul trouble, and Daris Garland had 15 points and six assists for the the Clippers, who won the season series 3-1 over Golden State, winning both games in Inglewood.
Bogdanovic, who sunk five of eight 3-pointers, finished with 17 points. Darius Garland tallied 15, Miller added 14 and Kobe Sanders produced 11 for Los Angeles.
Warriors star Steph Curry, who missed 27 games because of a knee injury, scored a game-high 24 points and had six rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes in his third game back.
Charles Bassey added 16 points, Kristaps Porzingis contributed 12 points and eight rebounds and Brandin Podziemski had 10 points for the Warriors, who finished the regular season with seven losses in their last eight games.
Golden State shot just 11 for 39 (28.2%) from behind the arc.
HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE?
The Clippers have won 11 of their past 12 home games against the Warriors, including nine in a row. The Warriors haven’t beaten the Clippers on the road since Nov. 28, 2021, three years before they moved from Crypto.com Arena to the Intuit Dome.
