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Actress Jaime Gertz, left, with her husband and owner of the Atlanta Hawks Tony Ressler during a NBA basketball game between the Clippers and the Atlanta Hawks at Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

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INGLEWOOD — His first shot was a 3-pointer from the left side. He then found Norman Powell in the corner for his first assist and followed with a miss from six feet out.

And with that, Kawhi Leonard’s comeback was officially rolling.

Leonard made his season debut Saturday in a 131-105 victory against the Atlanta Hawks after missing the first 34 games. And while it wasn’t perfect, it was both a start and an end to a long road back from troubling knee issues.

Leonard, who was greeted by the near-sellout Intuit Dome crowd with a loud ovation, finished his first game in 10 months with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, three rebounds and one assist in 19 minutes.

Leonard had said that his plan was to be ready for opening night, but the inflammation in his right knee never truly ceased after flaring up on March 31 against the Charlotte Hornets. He sat out the final eight regular games last season and appeared in only two games of the Clippers’ 4-2 first-round playoff elimination series against the Dallas Mavericks.

Leonard’s knee problems kept him off the Olympic team and forced him to sit on the bench in street clothes for the first two-plus months of this season. Leonard seemed relieved to finally move from the training room to the court after nearly a year.

“(There) was nothing hard about playing tonight. We did the right steps to get me to this point, and playing basketball was the easy part of it,” Leonard said. “This is what I love to do. The hard part is not playing and having to rehab and not competing with my teammates.”

Leonard’s 19 minutes were by design, and he will continue to be on a minutes restriction for the foreseeable future, which is just fine for the two-time Finals MVP who has had two surgeries and another procedure on his right knee.

“We’re still easing me into the game,” Leonard said. “We are not on no one’s timeframe. We know what’s ahead of us and we have to keep building in the right direction. So, we are facing it (comeback) like it was a preseason game tonight and we’ll keep moving the same way until I’m able to build up my minutes.”

Coach Tyronn Lue and the rest of the team were understandably excited to see the two-time NBA champion back on the floor whether it was for nine minutes or 19. Leonard gives the Clippers another scoring threat, someone who opposing teams need to guard, leaving others open to score.

“With his presence on the floor, it makes it a lot easier for everybody else, so it was good to have him,” Lue said. “Now he’s got to continue to keep building off of it.

“We are treating this as a preseason for him until he gets his legs up under him; make sure he comes out of the game tonight feeling good. And our goal is just to keep progressing every game and so tonight was a good start.”

Lue started Leonard in place of Derrick Jones Jr., keeping Kris Dunn in the starting lineup. Jones Jr. came off the bench and scored 12 points.

“That was amazing just to be out there (with him),” Jones Jr. said. “I’m just happy he got his first shot to go down. When you come back from an injury or a long layoff, it always boosts you up a little bit. But once he got that, he started rolling, so he’s good.”

The rest of the team played well, too.

Norman Powell got back on track after a 1-for-11 performance in the previous game and scored a team-high 20 points and had four rebounds. Ivica Zubac added 18 points and 18 rebounds, while James Harden had 10 points and 15 assists. Amir Coffey added 17 points.

Terance Mann scored 12 points and had three rebounds in his first game since Dec. 4. He fractured the middle finger on his left hand on Dec. 4 against the Portland Trailblazers.

The Clippers outshot the Hawks, 55.2% to 43.2%, and made 13 of 36 3-pointers (36.1%).

Three-time All-Star Trae Young led the Hawks with 20 points and 14 assists

“He draws so much attention – double teams and things like that – so I’m able to get finally some catch-and-shoot 3s, playing off rotations, being able to track the basket,” Powell said. “So, it’s a lot easier than just defensively where we’ve been playing.

“I think it fits him perfectly and it makes it hard for teams. You got so many guys that can switch and guard and defend one-on-one and now you got the help side. So, I’m really excited. The first game look really good, so we just continue to build on that.”

Whether it was Leonard’s presence, or the “great vibe” Mann talked about in the locker room before the game, the Clippers (20-15) came out inspired against the Hawks (18-18). After back-to-back blowouts, the Clippers ran out to a 29-14 lead before Atlanta closed the first quarter on a 14-0 run.

The Clippers, looking to avoid the kind of meltdowns they experienced in losses to the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder, went on a 34-11 run to blow open the game, 63-39, with 3:22 left in the first half. They led, 74-54, at intermission.

Harden had 13 assists in the first half for the third time in his career. His career-high is 14 for a half.

The Clippers kept the pressure on Atlanta in the second half. With four starters on the bench, they managed to maintain a 20-plus point lead in the fourth quarter.

Lue cautioned the team not to count on Leonard to handle the bulk of the scoring, which would have put undue pressure on the six-time All-Star.

“He’s a great player, so he’s going to find ways to be aggressive, score the basketball,” Lue said. “But we just don’t want to come back and force-feeding him and standing around.


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