The Los Angeles Clippers were able to win two straight games on their homecourt to even up this NBA playoff series against the Utah Jazz at 2-2, but they paid a massive price in order to do so, as Kawhi Leonard suffered a knee injury late in the fourth quarter of Game 4.
Originally, Leonard and others downplayed the seriousness of this injury, but early on Wednesday ahead of Game 5, news broke that Kawhi Leonard was going to be sitting out Game 5 with this right knee injury he suffered in Game 4 and then a little bit later on, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Leonard had suffered an ACL injury.
READ MORE: NBA Playoffs: Paul George masterfully took over No. 1 role to lead Clippers in Game 5 win
With Leonard expected to miss the rest of the series and Game 5 being in Utah, the Jazz were heavily favored heading into Wednesday night’s game, but the Clippers still had Paul George leading them and he had a career-defining game for Los Angeles. George has been receiving a lot of criticism on social media over the last year or so ever since he struggled in the NBA Bubble for the Clippers, but he stepped up in a huge way during Game 5 of this series when his team needed him to.
Paul George finished with 37 points and 16 rebounds in this game, which was huge in giving the Clippers a much-needed 119-111 victory to take a 3-2 series lead. Marcus Morris Sr. and Reggie Jackson were also fantastic in this game, combining for 47 points, and now, the Clippers are one game away from becoming the first team in NBA playoff history to win two different series in the same postseason after trailing 0-2 in both of them!
Kawhi Leonard is a fantastic player and even though the Clippers are a much better team with him on the court, they did not look like they missed him in Game 5! Everybody on this roster stepped up one way or another and as a result, they are on the verge of making their first ever Western Conference Finals.
READ MORE: Even without Kawhi, the Clippers triumph over the Jazz in Game 5
The Utah Jazz, the best team in the NBA during the regular season, are now facing elimination and will face a tough task of beating this Clippers team twice in order to advance, but they are more than capable of doing so. Game 6 of this series is definitely going to be chaotic, so let’s take a look at three key takeaways from the Clippers Game 5 victory and see if any of these observations can change either team’s fortunes the rest of this series.
