Clippers’ Star Kawhi Leonard Snaps Crazy Playoffs Streak With Worst Performance in 4 Years

Kawhi Leonard was having a dream run in the NBA Playoffs 2020 until Denver Nuggets ruined his stats. He was averaging 32.3 points per game when he entered Game 2 against the Nuggets and hit rock bottom. The LA Clippers lost to the Nuggets 101-110.

The Clippers were taken by surprise in the first quarter. The duo of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray helped Nuggets outscore the opponents 44-25. The Clippers came back in the game, but a pitiful performance from Kawhi did not allow them to win. 

Kawhi Leonard and his poorest performance in ages!

The Claw seldom sees a rough patch. He is almost always performing at the highest level, and so it gets difficult to see him struggling. 

In Game 2, he scored just 13 points with 4/17 (23.5%) from the field, with zero three-pointers out of a meager three attempts. This reflected in the card of Clippers as their FG accuracy was 40.9% and 3P just 28.1%, trailing against the Nuggets. That’s his Nadir point where he reached today. This performance also marked an end to his 47-game playoffs streak of scoring 15+. The last he scored below 15 was in the 2015-16 season playing for the Spurs.

Last season, playing for the Raptors, Kawhi played 24 games and averaged 30.5 points per game. Him scoring as low as 13 points is just unimaginable and too bad for his team.

The Clippers forward looked this out of shape 8 years ago!

In 2012, playing for the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi recorded a poor average of 8.6 points per game in his 14 games. In Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, he scored a minuscule 4 points in almost 36 minutes of time on the court. Since then, this has become one of his worst performances ever. 

His graph has only kept growing exponentially year-on-year as he kept averaging better not just with his shooting but with his rebounding and assisting as well. The Claw has been one of the most consistent playoff performers ever, and the fact that Jerami Grant could defend him is unbelievable. The 29-YO had 0 points in the fourth quarter, and that put a dent in the Clippers’ expectation of winning.

Paul George was the leading scorer in the match but his contribution downsized because they could not deliver a win and the series now balances 1-1.