The Combination Of Vintage Kawhi Leonard And A Spite Filled Russell Westbrook Shocked The World And Stole Game 1 From The Suns

Kate Frese. Getty Images.

The day began for the Clippers with word that they were officially going to be without Paul George for the entire first round matchup against the Suns.

A series that most already considered an uphill battle, the initial hope was the Clippers would be able to survive until George eventually came back at some point. That's now unfortunately out the window.

The day will end for the Clippers with the biggest win of their season

Mind you, the Suns have not lost a game this season with Kevin Durant in the lineup. Hell, dating back to his days with the Nets, Kevin Durant himself hasn't lost a game in which he's played since January 4th. Playing at home, rested, the Clippers were going to need to play their best game of the season if they wanted to start this series off with a huge 1-0 advantage.

That's basically exactly what they got.

Kawhi Leonard reminded the entire basketball world just what a bad man this is once we get to the postseason. This is a man that won't be caught dead playing in the regular season, and tonight we were reminded why. To hell with those games if this is the Kawhi you're guaranteeing shows up when the games truly matter

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In his first playoff game since 2021, that performance was about as vintage Kawhi as you're going to get. Deadly from the midrange, more than capable of throwing haymakers with Kevin Durant in big moments. People forget, it wasn't too long ago Kawhi was the best player on the planet, especially this time of year. 

Perhaps the most important part of his game tonight though was his 42 minutes played. That is not something we saw Kawhi do a whole lot during the year, I'm pretty sure you can count it on one hand, but when Ty Lue had to ride his franchise player, his franchise player responded.

Then, of course, there was Russell Westbrook. A player who played tonight through nothing but spite and spite alone had maybe the most Russell Westbrook Experience game I've ever seen. Offensively? Mostly gross. A brutal 3-19 (1-6) shooting, some careless turnovers, poor shot selection, all the things that make you extremely frustrated watching him play.

At the same time, he also does stuff like this

and essentially wins you the game. The way he crashed the offensive glass late in the final minute to find extra possessions, and that defensive play on Booker, all make up for the 3-19 shooting. 

Westbrook willed the Clippers to this win, and for a guy who gets a lot of shit, it was cool to see him have that moment. Being the guy who also knocked down both FTs to seal it, Russ deserves to talk all the shit in the world.

And now, we have a series on our hands. As I said in the Heat blog, the goal of these first two games as the road team is just to find a way to steal one. Apparently being the road team was the way to go today, considering they're 3 for 3 so far today. We saw what can happen when the Suns get zero production from their depth, which is one of their biggest questions heading into the postseason

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That's not gonna cut it, folks. If you look at the starters, everyone had a pretty healthy plus/minus outside of Booker. But once that second unit showed up, things went south quickly. Considering the Clippers are throwing out Norm Powell (14 points) and Tre Mann (10 points), what we saw was the Clippers actual depth end up being the difference. They won the bench points battle 34-10, and that was on the road! Where role players are supposed to play better! That's not something that's changing anytime soon. I'm not sure how the Suns respond other than praying their bench decides to show up.

It's not as if the Suns have a large sample of games where they've been asked to navigate this stuff. Welcome to your first bit of adversity in your new post trade KD era. Aside from the depth piece, this was another question they'll have to answer this postseason. Have they even played enough games together to be ready for a title run? It's not like this series is over, but now we get to see how the Suns respond after getting punched in the mouth on their own floor. The talent is still there, but they are playing a Clippers team that is not afraid. Did Russ look like he was intimidated to you? How about Kawhi? I didn't think so.

I don't think I'm alone in hoping we get at least 6 more of these things. That was a very entertaining way to spend 2.5 hours, and I would like to order 6 more. Vintage Kawhi vs healthy KD? Yes please.