INGLEWOOD — Lost amid the 19 minutes of Kawhi Leonard’s celebrated comeback was the less anticipated return of small forward Terance Mann.
While Mann missed 11 games because of a broken finger – not nine months like Leonard – his play in Saturday’s 131-105 victory against the Atlanta Hawks showed how much the Clippers need him on the floor as well. He made all five of his field goal attempts and both 3-pointer tries to finish with 12 points. He added three rebounds, two assists, one steal, and a whole lot of defensive plays in 16 minutes.
Coach Tyronn Lue, whose focus was mainly on Leonard’s play for much of the night, said the Clippers (20-15) missed Mann’s energy that seemed to have been missing even before his injury.
“But not just his energy (but) his ability to play in the pocket on a short roll when teams are showing,” Lue said. “And like I say, he can pass and make plays but he’s confident taking his shots. He did that tonight and he was aggressive defensively, and he made some good plays offensively as well.”
Mann, 28, took his first game since Dec. 4 in stride.
“I kind of told myself I was going to go out there, be super aggressive and kind of go take it,” he said. “I knew it’d feel weird at first, which it did, but I know I just had to be real aggressive and then it’ll come to me.”
Before the game, Mann shared before and after X-rays of the middle finger on his left (non-shooting) hand that required surgery. The images showed a clean break held together by four tiny screws.
Mann said he doesn’t know how he broke the finger during a dominant NBA Cup victory against the Portland Trailblazers last month. He didn’t see anyone around him but felt immediate pain; surgery was scheduled the next day.
Mann, who had been averaging 6.3 points and 3.1 rebounds through 23 games, showed no effects of either the injury or layoff. He whipped a no-look pass under the basket to Nicolas Batum, a clear sign that Mann was back.
“During the last however many games I was out … I knew that during those, when we’re going down, I need to be that guy to come back and keep the energy up here,” Mann said. “For example, I feel like I could have really helped in OKC when we were up 14 and they were kind of pushing back. I feel like that’s my job to come in and give energy and make plays like I did tonight to keep the lead.”
APPRECIATION NIGHT
Throughout his eight years in the NBA, forward Derrick Jones Jr. had only seen Leonard from across the court as an opponent. So, seeing the two-time Finals MVP playing in the same color jersey for the first time this season was “amazing just to be out there (with him)” Jones Jr. said.
“I feel like the guys just, we just knew not what’s at stake, but what we got right now. Having Kawhi back, that’s what we’ve been waiting for, for the most part,” Jones Jr. said.
Teammate Kris Dunn also was looking forward to lining up next to Leonard, not only to see how he gets to the basket and plays defense but to get an up-close look at how big his hands really are.
“He’s a heck of a talent,” Dunn said. “He can do so many great things on the floor as we know as the scoring piece. But for me, being a defensive guy is going to be fun to play next to him and see the kind of things he is doing on defense. I’m going to try to steal as much as I can and try to use it in my bag. However, he has the advantage of how big his hands are.”
OFF AND RUNNING
The Clippers scored an NBA season-high 46 fast break points against the Hawks. It’s also the most by any Clippers team in the play-by-play data era, dating back to the 1996-97 season.