This Saturday afternoon, the Denver Nuggets begin their playoff journey in the Western Conference. Their opponents: the Los Angeles Clippers, led by James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Russell Westbrook offered an honest assessment of the two stars.
“Kawhi is really really good,” Westbrook said during a press conference this week, as shared by DNVR Nuggets on X. “He’s a hell of a player… he makes a big difference.”
Russ expanded on what makes Leonard such a dangerous player. “He impacts winning in different ways, not just scoring the basketball,” said the Denver guard. “He does a great job of getting to his spots and when he’s playing at a high level, it makes them a really really good team.”
Westbrook and Leonard were briefly teammates on the Clippers during the latter part of the 2022–23 season and throughout the following campaign. Both years, the team reached the playoffs in the West, but was eliminated in the first round.
Westbrook also knows Harden well
Beyond his connection with Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook also has a deep history with James Harden. The two guards began their careers together with the Oklahoma City Thunder, reunited briefly with the Houston Rockets, and were again teammates with the Clippers.
see alsoKawhi Leonard gets real on his mindset ahead of Clippers’ NBA Playoff opener vs. Nuggets
Asked whether that familiarity could help him and his team, Russ didn’t hesitate. “It matters,” he said. “And also, you know, James is going to make shots. He’s a really really good offensive player, but defensively for myself and our team, it definitely matters. There are some tendencies and different things of that nature.”
Kawhi Leonard receives huge praise from Marc Gasol
Russell Westbrook wasn’t the only one to praise Kawhi Leonard recently. 2019 NBA champion Marc Gasol also had high praise for the Clippers forward, with whom he played on the Toronto Raptors. “You don’t want him close to the ball. Because you can’t play around with the basketball around him. You’re not going to play around — he’s going to take the ball right from your hands,” Gasol said on the Out The Mud podcast.
Reflecting on their time together in Toronto, Marc highlighted Leonard’s defensive excellence. “His positioning was always flawless. Like, he never (expletive) up a spot where he needed to be defensively,” said Gasol. “He’s all about the right things.”
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