46 points vs. Minnesota – December 13, 2019
While their first game together showed how George and Leonard’s presence can uplift the game of the players around them and make the Clippers a better overall team, the pair showed just how dominant they can be on their own against Minnesota in mid-December.
George put up a season-high 46 points (two points shy of his career-high of 48) along with five rebounds, seven assists, and two steals. Leonard added 42 points, 11 boards, and two assists to lead the Clippers to a 124-117 victory over the Timberwolves.
This is the type of dominant dynamic-duo performance Clippers fans had been envisioning since July, becoming the first pair of Clippers players to score 40-plus points in the same game (the 21st time it happened in NBA history).
“It’s special, two guys offensively,” George said. “The thing about it is, we’re dishing, finding each other, feeding each other. And then when we have moments to be aggressive, we’re looking to get aggressive, attack, look for our shots. It’s great when both guys can get it going”
“It’s great that we can have somebody else out there to help scoring the ball, making the game easier for myself,” Leonard said. “We’re still trying to build our chemistry out there.”
A scary thought that a performance like that night’s could come from a duo that was not yet fully-formed. But one that has the Clippers organization and their fans hopeful that the team will be championship contenders for the foreseeable future.
The current landscape of NBA rosters has been called a shift from “Big Threes” and “Superteams” to one of duos. This game showed that not many teams in the NBA can claim they have a better pair than Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.