Clippers' Doc Rivers on 'Intense' Kawhi Leonard: 'He Talks with His Game'
Following his first game as Kawhi Leonard's head coach, Doc Rivers showered the superstar wing with praise.
Leonard dropped 30 points in the Los Angeles Clippers' 112-102 season-opening win over the Los Angeles Lakers, and he did so after Lakers fans booed him during his pregame message. According to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, Rivers liked that Kawhi didn't let it get to him: "He talks with his game. I think that's the way it should be."
Rivers also mentioned the level of intensity Leonard displayed prior to the tip:
"He was intense. You could feel that. You could feel the intensity. There's no doubt about that. I think [assistant coach] Ty Lue said, 'Look at him at the jump-ball circle,' where [everybody] was moving around and doing all their gestures, and Kawhi was just standing there. You could just see, he was like, 'Throw the ball up. Let's get this on.' Ty was right."
Leonard led all scorers in the game on 10-of-19 shooting to go along with six rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block. He also went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line.
Kawhi's performance was made even more impressive by the fact that he led the Clippers to victory despite the absence of Paul George, whom L.A. acquired via trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder in order to cement the Leonard signing.
George is out after undergoing double shoulder surgery during the offseason, and he isn't likely to be back until sometime in November.
Until then, Leonard will be the clear go-to guy with Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell primarily lending support off the bench. The Clippers' four starters aside from Kawhi were out-scored 60-22 by the four players Rivers used off the bench Tuesday.
Leonard and Co. took down a Lakers team that was essentially at full strength and led by the duo of Anthony Davis and LeBron James. AD finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, while LeBron was limited to just 18 points.
The Lakers got a team-high 28 points from Leonard's former Toronto Raptors teammate Danny Green, but even that wasn't enough to take down the reigning NBA Finals MVP.
With his tenure in L.A. off to an ideal start, Kawhi will look to help the Clippers improve to 2-0 on the season when they face the Golden State Warriors in a road clash on Thursday.
