Clippers' Savvy Management of Kawhi Leonard & Darius Garland Will Pay Dividends

The Los Angeles Clippers head coach Ty Lue has a difficult balancing act ahead of him. With two weeks left in the regular season, he has to find the perfect balance between pushing his players to finish with as good a record as possible and keeping them fresh for the postseason. There are several older veterans and stars in need of load management on the roster, and Lue has been doing a masterful job finding the sweet spot between the team's short-term and long-term goals.

The most important balancing act is managing Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland's minutes. Leonard has dealt with several different injuries all season and has been hobbled in recent weeks with an ankle sprain. The 34-year-old forward also has an extensive knee injury history. The Clippers have been burned multiple times with ill-timed Leonard injuries, so it's of utmost importance to make sure Leonard is healthy and fresh when it matters the most.

Clippers Doing an Excellent Job Keeping Darius Garland & Kawhi Leonard's Minutes Down

Garland has been similarly hobbled with injuries this season. After undergoing offseason toe surgery, Garland struggled to get going this season. Until he was traded to the Clippers at the deadline, the 26-year-old point guard was in and out of the lineup for the Cavaliers as he continued to deal with toe issues. He had to sit out the first ten games as a Clipper and has been slowly ramping up. He has yet to play both ends of a back-to-back, and the coaching staff has been managing his minutes carefully.

The best part of it all is that the Clippers have continued to win games even while keeping Leonard and Garland's minutes down.

During the current five-game winning streak, both Garland and Leonard have averaged less than 30 minutes per game. Despite playing an overtime game in Dallas, both stars are at 29.8 minutes per game. A big reason why is that the Clippers have been blowing teams out.

Yet, Lue deserves credit for sticking with the plan. On Sunday, the Clippers entered the fourth quarter with a 22-point lead over the Bucks. Lue wanted to sit Garland and Leonard for the entire quarter. Even though Milwaukee mounted a comeback and cut the lead to 12 points with over four minutes left in the game, Lue didn't panic. He trusted his backups and didn't put his stars back on the floor. The Clippers held on to the lead and won their fifth straight game. Leonard ended up playing 23 minutes while Garland played less than 27.

Since the Clippers will take part in the Play-In Tournament, they won't have the luxury of additional rest like the rest of the playoff teams. So, they need to give as much rest as possible for their veterans over the next two weeks.

Fortunately, there is only one set of back-to-backs left for the Clippers when they host Dallas and OKC on Tuesday, April 7, and Wednesday, April 8, respectively. LA has built a 1.5-game lead over the No. 9 seed Blazers and trails the Suns by 2.5 games. This is enough cushion on both ends that the Clippers don't have any reason to change course. As long as they can win games without pushing Garland and Leonard too much, this strategy will pay serious dividends in the postseason.