Darius Garland made his Los Angeles Clippers debut in their 114-101 win over the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on Monday. Garland came off the bench against the Warriors in his first game in nearly two months, and Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard was asked postgame about his thoughts on the guard’s debut.
“It’s hard to judge, but I mean, obviously, he did great,” Leonard said. “He stayed aggressive, knocked down some open shots. Looks very promising out there. He was very active defensively when guarding couple of those centers in the post. Yeah, I mean, I enjoyed his performance tonight.”
Garland would finish with 12 points (4-9 FG), two rebounds, two assists, and one steal in 23 minutes. The two-time All-Star was aggressive, but he did have a team-high five turnovers as well. It wasn’t a case of Garland being unlucky either, as he was just careless with the ball. Rust perhaps had something to do with it.
Garland had last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 133-107 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Jan. 14. He had been sidelined since then due to a right great toe sprain and left big toe injury management. It was during Garland’s rehab on Feb. 4 that the Cavaliers traded him to the Clippers for James Harden and a second-round pick. He was excited to be a Clipper, but had to wait a while to make his first appearance.
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue revealed before the game that Garland was coming off the bench, so that he doesn’t have to play with Leonard. Lue wanted the 26-year-old to find his rhythm and was going to run everything through him when he was on the court.
Eventually, of course, they will play together a whole lot, and Leonard shared what he is looking for from Garland when explaining what he values in a point guard.
“Number one, just competitive nature,” Leonard said. “But every situation is different. So from Darius, we’re going to be looking at him to get us involved, get him some shots, pushing the pace in transition for us. And just getting everybody involved and calling sets so we’re not stagnant at times. So, I think he’s able to do that.
“He’s an All-Star player, and I’m just looking forward to playing more basketball with him and more minutes as he ramps up to playing 30+ minutes a game,” Leonard concluded.
It will be interesting to see how this Leonard-Garland pairing works out. He and Harden were great together, and it’s going to take some time for this duo to have that kind of chemistry. Their first game together actually looked set to end in defeat for the longest time, but they managed to turn things around.
The Warriors led by as many as 17 points in the first half and took a 56-42 lead into halftime. The Clippers managed to turn the tide after the break, though, with Leonard leading the charge. The seven-time All-Star had 15 points in the second half to finish the night with 23 points (9-14 FG), eight rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
The Clippers improved to 29-31 with this win and will take on the Indiana Pacers next at the Intuit Dome on Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
