LA’s misery is Golden State’s gain. The LA Clippers’ mid-season resurgence has hit a concrete wall right when Steve Kerr has reset the Golden State Warriors’ goal to playing catch-up. A blowout 109-124 loss to the Pelicans, a team that is by no means shooting for the postseason, has put the Clippers on a three-game losing skid. It’s not as bad as what the Warriors are going through but it is because of an injured star.

After a blistering stretch where they won 7 of 8 games to climb above .500 for the first time this season, the Clippers (34–35) have suddenly cratered. The primary culprit appears to be a lingering ankle injury to superstar Kawhi Leonard. While the Clippers take it day-to-day with him, his decreased mobility was on full display as LA blew an 18-point lead against the Pelicans.

While Leonard finished with 25 points, he struggled to contain New Orleans’ shooters in the second half. The Clippers suffered a defensive collapse not just in the second half tonight, but its last three games since Leonard’s injury. It has the rest of the Western Conference ‘sharks’ smelling blood.

The Clippers’ sudden slide is the mirror image of the “harsh reality” Steve Kerr said after the Warriors lost in Boston tonight. “It’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t have the firepower… it kind of feels like you have to be perfect.” That ‘firepower’ is Stephen Curry to the Warriors and Kawhi to the Clippers.

For the Clippers, that “perfection” has evaporated along with Leonard’s lateral quickness. It’s unrealistic for Kawhi to sustain a full game on a sprained ankle. His face is permanently frozen in pain when he’s making drives while surrounded by three Pelicans players.

His own slowdown has gone parallel with the team blowing away double-digit leads in three straight losses — 14 points against the Spurs, 10 against the Kings, and Wednesday’s 18-point meltdown in New Orleans.

With a back-to-back rematch against the Pelicans scheduled for tonight, the Clippers are in danger of falling a full two games below .500 just as the postseason race reaches a season-defining point.

Kawhi Leonard’s Clippers could clear the way for Stephen Curry

The timing of the Clippers’ collapse could not be more fortuitous for the Golden State Warriors. Despite their own struggles, the Warriors (33–36) now sit just one game behind the Clippers in the loss column. As Kerr recently emphasized, the goal for Golden State is no longer the top six, but specifically the 8th seed to ensure “two cracks” at the playoffs.

“If we can string together some wins, you know, try to get to eight, that’d be ideal. Get two cracks at it… we’re not getting to seven; we know that,” Kerr told reporters. The Warriors would’ve had to win nine games to get to their previous goal of sixth seed. After losing to the Celtics, Kerr is being realistic and changed the goal to the seventh or eighth spot.

They don’t just need Curry back and two more wins to secure that spot. They need the Clippers to lose too. With Leonard clearly hampered and the Clippers facing a brutal remaining schedule, the door for the 8th seed has swung wide open for a Warriors team expecting Stephen Curry back by the weekend.

Evident by how Kawhi was guarded by the Pelicans while he’s in noticeable pain, the Clippers’ once-vaunted perimeter defense is turning into a liability. If Los Angeles cannot stabilize their defense in the rematch, the spirit and energy Kerr prioritized may shift entirely toward the Bay Area.