Leonard seems pretty focused even after a loss.
The Los Angeles Clippers dropped a 128-110 decision to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night at Intuit Dome, but the real story afterward had nothing to do with the score.
The Clippers sit at 41-39 on the season and travel to Portland on Friday night in a game that will go a long way toward deciding whether they finish eighth or ninth in the Western Conference.
The Trail Blazers are right behind them at 40-40 after losing to San Antonio on Wednesday, so the stakes could not be higher for both sides heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Leonard Keeps It Simple
After the loss to Oklahoma City, Kawhi Leonard was asked about his approach for Friday's showdown in Portland.
His answer was about as straightforward as it gets.
"Just play like any other game," Leonard said. "You've got to do the same thing we do every night. Make sure you don't make mistakes, execute, rebound, play with energy, and bring aggression. Same thing."
That type of answer is typical Leonard, and it also happens to be true.
The Clippers are 35-18 since their ugly 6-21 start before Christmas, and the formula has not changed during that run.
Leonard has carried the load all season, averaging 28.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the floor.
He scored 20 in the loss to the Thunder and has now reached 20 or more points in 56 straight games, which tells you everything about how locked in he has been.
What's at Stake on Friday
The difference between finishing eighth and ninth is massive in the play-in tournament structure.
The eighth seed gets to play the seventh seed with one game to advance into the playoff bracket, while the ninth seed has to win twice just to get in.
If the Clippers beat Portland, they maintain their one-game cushion and control their own path to the postseason.
If they lose, the Blazers would hold the tiebreaker thanks to a better record against Western Conference opponents, which would flip the seeding entirely.
The Clippers know something about high-pressure regular season finales.
Last season they finished 50-32 and earned the fifth seed in the West before taking the Denver Nuggets to seven games in the first round.
That team had James Harden running the show alongside Leonard, but this version of the roster looks different after the trade deadline overhaul that brought in Darius Garland, who has averaged 18.9 points and 6.7 assists since joining the team.
The Bigger Picture
Leonard nearly got traded to Golden State at the deadline, but the front office pulled out of those talks and bet on their star to carry them into the postseason.
That decision looks smart right now.
The Clippers have won seven of their last nine games and are playing some of their best basketball of the season, even with a lingering wrist injury that Leonard has been fighting through since late March.
Friday night in Portland will not decide the entire season by itself, but it will set the table for everything that comes after.
Leonard is not interested in treating it any differently than the 79 games before it.
That might be the most reassuring thing Clippers fans can hear right now.