As Kawhi Leonard stepped onto the floor for the first time as a member of the LA Clippers, STAPLES Center erupted. When he made his first bucket, the noise only grew louder, and louder with the next.
It was finally here. After all the speculation, all the doubts, all the reports, Leonard was finally a Clipper, and he was making his mark. Even if it was just preseason action, it felt like it mattered.
The Clippers fell to the Denver Nuggets Thursday night, 111-91, but that’s in no part because of LA’s first-half efforts.
LA went into the break with a nine-point lead over Denver but was ultimately outmatched in the second half, being outscored 59-30 over the course of the final 24 minutes.