Kawhi shines in Clippers–Kings clash that felt stuck in time

At the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, two of the NBA’s most chronically losing teams came together, both unmistakable examples of failed projects trying – without much conviction – to stumble back toward relevance. They have resigned themselves to a miserable present while clinging to the hope that the future will be better, a fairly safe bet given how low the bar currently sits. The Clippers, shackled to the past and still nursing the scars left by the Chris Paul scandal, have watched life drift by as losses piled up, interrupted only by the occasional win – four in a row before facing the Kings, for anyone inclined to see the glass half full. That is a stretch in a Western Conference this unforgiving, where a slow start carries a heavy price. The talent is there to recover, but they are more reliant on others slipping up than on anything they can truly control.

On the other side stood the much-maligned Kings, a franchise in ruins, without direction or purpose, waiting for a miracle that never seems to arrive. In 2023 they reached the playoffs for the first time in 16 years, ending the longest postseason drought in NBA history – an absence that felt eternal until Mike Brown broke the spell. But the struggles of the following year and a half cost him his job. His old-school approach gave way to Doug Christie, a man deeply familiar with the organization but unable to find the right formula, while Brown has thrived with the Knicks, racking up wins. The result is bleak: nothing working, in the middle of a disastrous season that somehow looks even worse than the Clippers’. And that is saying something.

The game also marked a reunion between Russell Westbrook and the Clippers, the team he played for until two seasons ago, when he became the convenient scapegoat for playoff failures thanks to his on-court excesses and the theatrics of a histrionic franchise. He had already returned last season with the Nuggets – who moved on from him as soon as they could – but there is always a hint of intrigue when he faces former teammates such as James Harden or Kawhi Leonard. Westbrook, now with the Kings, is performing solidly in the middle of chaos. Harden continues to show that his talent remains intact, while Leonard flashes his best version again, even if only briefly. It felt like a game belonging more to the past than the present, with no real sense of a future – a night to enjoy familiar faces rather than new ones. Time, after all, catches up with everyone.

In the end, another dominant performance from Leonard sealed a fifth straight Clippers win, an oddly positive moment in a season that has offered few of them. He finished with 33 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals, shooting 11 of 19 from the field, 5 of 9 from three and 6 of 7 from the line. Harden added 21 points and five assists. The Kings, who trailed by as many as 43 and were never truly competitive, shot 33% from beyond the arc and committed 18 turnovers. Beyond the numbers, the performance was simply dreadful. Westbrook scored 12 points in just under 19 minutes against his former teammates, a footnote in a very particular microcosm: one team that remains a disaster, and another desperately trying to rise from its own ashes. Like a phoenix.

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