It took a winner of a match of Kawhi Leonard, but the Clippers of Los Angeles survived Sunday evening at the Intuit Dome.
Leonard struck a short rider of the block while time expires to raise the clippers towards a victory of 111-110 in overtime against the Kings of Sacramento. After a tight match throughout the way, Demar Derozan put the kings in one point with about 20 seconds to play in the additional period with a pair of free throws.
Leonard, while time was starting to check, began his move to the basket. He slowly recovered the striker of Kings Keegan Murray through the track, crossed the opposite post and described a perfect left shot which rebounded on the edge twice before falling. It was perfect and sparked a huge celebration at the arena.
Leonard collected 17 points and four rebounds in the victory for the Clippers, and pulled only 1 by 7 behind the arc. James Harden came just shy from a triple-double with 29 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and Ivica Zubac collected 22 points and 14 rebounds.
The Clippers won the match without the head coach Ty Lue, who left the Dome Intuit early Sunday due to back pain. Other details are not yet known, although LUE was with the team for their shootarnd and normally attended its pre-match media session before leaving.
Read, 47, is in his fifth season as a chief coach of the Clippers. He was hired before the 2020-2021 campaign after spending a year on the staff as an assistant, and he entered a record of 218-163 on Sunday evening with the organization. The Clippers were led by assistant Brian Shaw in the absence of LUE on Sunday evening.
Derozan led the Kings with 31 points and 10 assists, and Zach Lavine added 30 points. Murray finished with 15 points, and the Jonas Valancunas center managed 17 rebounds to go with his nine points. The loss lowered the kings at 33-30.
It is not known how much time will be far from the mowers. The team will travel to face the Pelicans of New Orleans on Tuesday, which is the start of a three-game road trip. Although the moment of his back injury is not great, the clippers have always done the job without him Sunday evening.
