It’s the NBA reunion — actually, just a union — we’ve all been waiting for.
Paul George and Kawhi Leonard played a Los Angeles Clippers game together. And you know what? They didn’t play that well, but it didn’t matter.
The Clips walked away with an overtime victory over the Boston Celtics … which means the rest of the NBA should be very, very afraid.
George and Leonard shot a combined 15-of-38 from the field and 10 turnovers. There was also this lowlight for George, known for his defensive prowess:
Yet they beat a really talented Celtics squad, thanks in part to Patrick Beverley, who played lock-down D, snagged a team-high 16 rebounds, hit four from deep and gave us one Oscar-worthy flop:
Leonard made his biggest play of the night with a game-saving block:
No wonder Doc Rivers deemed it, per USA TODAY Sports, “an ugly win, but it was beautiful.”
The takeaway should be that once George and Leonard figure out how to truly play together — and there’s SO much time for that — this team is going to be so annoying to play. The starting five (Leonard, George, Beverley, Mo Harkless and Ivica Zubac) is a nightmarish mix of lengthy defender, and then you have to worry about Lou Williams coming off the bench. By the time April rolls around, George and Leonard will figure out how to communicate on the defensive end, find their spots on the offensive end and rest enough to be fresh for the postseason.
Once they get it right and get healthy, it’s all over for the rest of the league.
