{"id":421884,"date":"2025-01-05T09:24:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T08:24:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=421884"},"modified":"2025-01-05T09:24:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T08:24:25","slug":"kawhi-leonard-returns-after-253-days-in-clippers-win-over-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/kawhi-leonard-returns-after-253-days-in-clippers-win-over-hawks\/","title":{"rendered":"Kawhi Leonard Returns After 253 Days in Clippers\u2019 Win Over Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday night, Kawhi Leonard made his long-awaited season debut, contributing 12 points in 19 minutes as the LA Clippers secured a 131-105 win against the Atlanta Hawks. After 253 days away, Leonard called his return \u201cthe easy part\u201d compared to the challenges of rehab.<\/p>\n<p>Leonard shot 4-of-11 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, while adding three assists and one rebound. Clippers coach Ty Lue described this phase as a \u201cpreseason\u201d for Leonard, limiting his playing time to 20 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>The Clippers dominated the game with eight players scoring in double figures, led by Norman Powell\u2019s 20 points and Ivica Zubac\u2019s double-double with 18 points and 18 rebounds. James Harden dished out 15 assists. Powell highlighted Leonard\u2019s impact, saying his presence simplifies the game for others.<\/p>\n<p>Leonard, who has been battling right knee issues since 2021, emphasized staying consistent without rushing his recovery. \u201cMy goal is simple: keep playing and continue doing what\u2019s brought me here.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">WELCOME BACK, KAWHI LEONARD.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa ATL\/LAC on NBA TV <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/69amdp23ZV\">pic.twitter.com\/69amdp23ZV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1875750273483993530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Kawhi Leonard on the social media trailers leading up to his return:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust getting creative, been talking to a few producers, directors, and wanted to tell my story. And it&#8217;s a little teaser for my movie. Hopefully y&#8217;all see it down the road.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dITRTuiSr5\">pic.twitter.com\/dITRTuiSr5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomerAzarly\/status\/1875801887037125096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday night, Kawhi Leonard made his long-awaited season debut, contributing 12 points in 19 minutes as the LA Clippers secured a 131-105 win<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":410304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[399],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[187],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-421884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","typology-video"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/10\/Los-Angeles-Clippers.jpg","digistream_id":0,"digistream":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421884"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=421884"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=421884"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=421884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}