MY ACCOUNT
Los Angeles Clippers wing Norman Powell feels his team are a threat in this year’s playoffs – and Kawhi Leonard is looking strong.
Powell returned in style from two months on the sideline, scoring 24 points off the bench in the Clippers’ 113-109 home win against the Phoenix Suns.
The 2019 champion with the Toronto Raptors suffered a broken foot in an early-February matchup against the Dallas Mavericks but showed no ill effects as he scored six-of-10 field-goal attempts, including going three-of-four from long range, and nine-of-10 from the free throw line.
Despite Clippers star Leonard missing the entire season so far with his recovery from a torn ACL and co-star Paul George only playing 29 games, Los Angeles are somehow 40-40 through 80 games and locked into the Western Conference eight seed.
Speaking with ESPN, Powell said it was a successful return from injury.
“The foot has been feeling good,” he said. “The medical staff wanted to give me a few test games, stay-ready games leading up to the game tonight, seeing how it would respond to the extra workload.
“It was feeling great. Tonight it feels great… I thought it was a good first game after being out for two months.”
Powell went on to speak about the threat his side poses in a postseason setting.
“I think we can be really dangerous,” he said. “Paul George drives a lot of attention on the floor, and when me and him and [Marcus Morris Sr.] and Reggie [Jackson] are all on the floor, we’ve got so many weapons.
“I just think we have weapons at every position, and I can take the pressure off those guys if need be, being a ball-handler as well.
“It reminds me of that 2019 [Raptors] team. We were able to do that with Pascal [Siakam], with Marc [Gasol], with Serge [Ibaka], Kawhi, Danny [Green], Kyle [Lowry], me, Fred [VanVleet].
“What we had, we were able to give them different lineups throughout the course of the game, whatever the game is dictating, to go big, defense, with length.”
While George’s return from a long-term elbow injury has already given the Clippers a punchers’ chance, Powell gave an update on Leonard, who would completely change the team’s expectations if he was to declare himself fit for the playoffs.
“I’ve just [been] asking [Leonard] how he feels, where his head is at,” he said.
“He feels good. Seeing him being able to work out, put some shots up, things like that, I think his rehab is trending in the right direction.
“As you know, and everybody else, you are not going to get too much information out of Kawhi. They keep everything [under] wraps, but I know he is feeling good and his rehab is progressing.”
