Kawhi Leonard Needs to Continue Scoring Dominance to Keep Clippers’ Season Alive

Kawhi Leonard’s 45-point Game 6 to force a Game 7 could be the turning point in the Los Angeles Clippers’ playoff run, or it could end up as just another game that will eventually be forgotten from this year’s playoffs. 

Sunday’s Game 7 will help decide the fate of Leonard's 18-for-25 shooting performance on Friday, but he will need to back it up with another dominant game today. The Clippers have gone 0-3 at home this postseason, much to the joy of the Staples Center ushers, but they have an opportunity to exorcise some Game 7 demons against the Dallas Mavericks. 

Paul George, who’s Game 7 struggles are well documented, and Leonard both came up short in last year’s Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals. 

Can they finally turn it around this season? WynnBET certainly believes in Leonard, as his player prop projection for points is set at 32.5 on Sunday with the over (+104) as the underdog to the under (-125). 

Kawhi has gone over 32.5 points in three of the series’ first six games, and he’s averaging 32.8 points per game on 60.5 percent shooting from the field for the series. 

The efficiency from Leonard has been extremely impressive, but he also has only scored over 20 points in a Game 7 once in his career.

This entire series between the Clippers and Mavs has been about Leonard and Luka Doncic trading off insane scoring performances, and I don’t expect that to change in Game 7. 

Leonard’s Game 7 history isn’t as murky as George’s, and he does have a 41-point game in the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals on his resume. The Clippers are going to need Kawhi to lead the way to move on, and I’d expect him to be up to the task after dominating the Mavs all series.