Kawhi Leonard is close to returning for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are further away from returning to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Both teams will continue without key players when they meet Monday night in New Orleans.
Leonard hasn’t played this season because of knee inflammation, but he returned to practice more than a week ago and reportedly could play as soon as Jan. 4, though he won’t be on the Clippers’ three-game trip that begins in New Orleans.
The Clippers also played without Terance Mann (finger), Kevin Porter Jr. (illness) and Kobe Brown (back) in their most recent game, a 102-92 home victory against Golden State on Friday.
In the absence of the six-time All-Star, Los Angeles has compiled the fifth-best record in the Western Conference (tied with the crosstown Lakers). Head coach Tyronn Lue said believing that they can win without Leonard has been “half the battle.”
“When you step on the floor, no matter who’s on the court, having that mindset that we can win games has been our model for the last five years or so,” Lue said. “We talked about just holding it down until Kawhi was able to get back, and our group has been doing a good job of that.”
The Clippers had six double-figure scorers against Golden State, led by 26 points from Norman Powell, who has emerged as the team’s leading scorer (24.2) in Leonard’s absence. Center Ivica Zubac had his seventh straight double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds).
They built a 21-point lead, watched the short-handed Warriors get within three with 2:30 left, then held on. Los Angeles committed 12 of its 23 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“It was a big win for us however you look at it,” Lue said. “In three days, though, I won’t remember how we won. I’ll just know that it was a W.”
The Pelicans would be happy with any kind of win after losing their last nine games and 18 of their last 19. And no return date has been set for either of the team’s top two players. Williamson has missed 26 games and Ingram has missed 14.
New Orleans has not led in either of its last two games — home losses against Memphis (132-124) on Friday and Houston (128-111) the night before.
“(We have to) try to execute from the beginning, play hard from the beginning so we aren’t always playing out of a hole,” said forward Trey Murphy III, who led the Pelicans with a season-high 35 points against the Grizzlies.
Murphy is averaging a career-best 20.2 points per game and he has averaged 26.2 in the last five games. He is New Orleans’ most prolific 3-point shooter, but in the absence of Williamson and Ingram he has had to expand his scoring repertoire.
“(Against Memphis) he played the right way the whole game,” coach Willie Green said of Murphy. “When the ball came to him, he made good plays. He was solid, he shot the cover off the ball. He got to the basket, he got to the free-throw line. This is a great opportunity for Trey, and he took complete advantage of it.”
