{"id":136202,"date":"2025-04-25T13:06:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T17:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=136202"},"modified":"2025-04-25T13:06:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T17:06:18","slug":"clippers-kawhi-leonard-praises-kris-dunn-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/04\/25\/clippers-kawhi-leonard-praises-kris-dunn-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers Role Player Stepping Up As Defensive Motivator\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

If it wasn’t convincing before the playoffs started that the Los Angeles Clippers were a true threat in the West, it’s more than convincing now. Not only do the Clippers hold a 2-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets<\/a> despite continuing masterpieces by Nikola Joki\u0107<\/a>, but the Clippers are simply playing an outstanding brand of basketball right now. They’re stepping up on both ends of the floor, Kawhi Leonard<\/a> and James Harden<\/a> are coming through as a superstar duo, and the Clippers’ “others” are imprinting their impact alongside. Speaking of the “others,” as Shaquille O’Neal fondly describes them, Clippers guard Kris Dunn<\/a> is not only providing strong production, he’s motiving Kawhi to play exceptional defense as well.<\/p>\n

Clippers Role Player Stepping Up As Defensive Motivator<\/h2>\n

Kawhi Leonard Praises Kris Dunn after Los Angeles Clippers go up 2-1 over Denver Nuggets<\/h3>\n

Dunn hasn’t exactly exploded out of the gate where points and offense are concerned. He’s recorded a combined 21 points in three playoff games, reaching double digits just once. But the Clippers don’t necessarily need Dunn to produce on offense, considering all he does for them at the other end of the floor on defense. Dunn is rebounding the ball exceptionally well, recording eight in Game 3 and six in Game 2. On top of that, his defensive energy and tenacity have contributed to four steals and three blocks through three games. Dunn has stepped up significantly in his role, and it’s helped Los Angeles<\/a> take the series lead over Denver.<\/p>\n

Dunn’s defensive impact isn’t lost on his teammates, either. Following the Clippers 117-83 blowout of the Nuggets Thursday night, Kawhi didn’t hesitate to shout out Dunn’s defensive example<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s guys on the floor that want to guard. They\u2019re just not just pointing at me asking to guard\u2026 They motivate me defensively. Especially, Kris Dunn.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

LA clicking on all cylinders heading into Game 4<\/h3>\n

While Dunn and his fellow role players step up for the Clippers<\/a>, the stars are doing the same. Leonard has played exceptionally well and is doing so healthy, which has to be comforting to Clippers fans. The Bionic Man, as Charles Barkley repeatedly referred to him during TNT’s broadcast of the game, is going off offensively, not to mention he’s scoring with efficiency. Kawhi has shot 31-51 from the floor in three games so far, putting up 22, 39, and 21 points. This is the best we’ve seen Kawhi play in the playoffs in several years.<\/p>\n

Harden is also making his impact known, and he hasn’t had a bad game yet, which might be surprising to many, considering past playoff performances. Leonard and Harden are making timely shots, and Harden is racking up the assists along the way (27). It’s not just the production from the expected parties that has LA on top of Denver; it’s everyone else included. Ivica Zubac<\/a> keeps turning in one crucial performance after another. He’s recorded two double-doubles already and is showing his strength in the paint on both ends.\u00a0Most importantly, he’s showing he can go up against Joki\u0107.<\/p>\n

The Clippers are on their way to dispatching the Nuggets. Furthermore, they look just about as dangerous as anybody in this postseason. As long as Harden and Kawhi can keep this up, LA will look more and more like a bonafide conference finals team, and who knows from there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If it wasn’t convincing before the playoffs started that the Los Angeles Clippers were a true threat in the West, it’s more than convincing now. Not only do the Clippers hold a 2-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets despite continuing masterpieces by Nikola Joki\u0107, but the Clippers are simply playing an outstanding brand of basketball […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":136204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1608,62],"tags":[652,444,168,458,72],"class_list":["post-136202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clippers","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-ivica-zubac","tag-james-harden","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kris-dunn","tag-nikola-jokic"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136202"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136227,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136202\/revisions\/136227"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}