{"id":1311169,"date":"2019-06-08T22:36:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-09T04:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/with-leonard-leading-way-raptors-on-cusp-of-1st-nba-title\/"},"modified":"2019-06-08T22:36:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-09T04:36:00","slug":"with-leonard-leading-way-raptors-on-cusp-of-1st-nba-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/with-leonard-leading-way-raptors-on-cusp-of-1st-nba-title\/","title":{"rendered":"With Leonard leading way, Raptors on cusp of 1st NBA title"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard speaks at a news conference after Game 4 of basketball’s NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Friday, June 7, 2019. (AP Photo\/Tony Avelar)<\/strong>
AP | FR155217 AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

OAKLAND, Calif. \u2014 There was a moment, not long before the postseason started, when Toronto coach Nick Nurse learned all that he really needed to know about Kawhi Leonard and what makes the man of few words tick.<\/p>\n

The conversation was about the 82-game regular season.<\/p>\n

Leonard shrugged and described those games as \u201cjust practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when I knew,\u201d Nurse said, \u201cthat this guy has another gear that he was going to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone knows that now \u2014 or at least, everyone should be reminded of that now. Leonard was the NBA Finals MVP in 2014 and looks very much like the soon-to-be NBA Finals MVP in 2019. He is at the top of his game and has shown that not only is he over the leg ailment that cost him basically all of last season but that he might just be better than ever.<\/p>\n

They call Leonard \u201cthe King of the North\u201d in Toronto now, and on Monday night that title might expand to cover the entire NBA as well. Leonard is on the cusp of a second championship and possibly ending a second era. The Raptors lead the Golden State Warriors 3-1 in the NBA Finals and Toronto plays host to a potentially championship-clinching Game 5 on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not over yet,\u201d Leonard said.<\/p>\n

The way he\u2019s playing, it\u2019s hard to imagine this slipping away.<\/p>\n

Leonard is averaging 30.8 points and 10.3 rebounds in the finals. For the entirety of the playoffs, the averages are 31.1 points and 9.1 rebounds. The elite club for shooters in the NBA is the one dubbed \u201c50-40-90\u201d \u2014 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range, 90% from the foul line. Leonard is at 49.8% shooting, 39% on 3s and 89% from the line in the postseason, with every team\u2019s plan geared to stop him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019re ever going to rattle Kawhi,\u201d conceded Golden State\u2019s Draymond Green.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no shame in that. The Warriors have some defenders of exceptional pedigree. Green is a former defensive player of the year. Klay Thompson was an all-defensive team player this year. Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut have earned their way onto that team in previous seasons.<\/p>\n

Separately, together, it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

The Warriors haven\u2019t had an answer for Leonard.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just been phenomenal,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cThe energy that he brought on the defensive end translated to his offensive game. To me, talking about \u2018where does he rank\u2019 and blah blah blah, he\u2019s like the best team player. He might not be the best player in the NBA \u2014 he\u2019s in the conversation of some sort of top five or top three or whatever you want to have \u2014 but he\u2019s the best team player.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re even noticing that outside of basketball.<\/p>\n

Golf is about as individual a sport as there is. But the sixth-ranked golfer in the world Justin Thomas marveled after seeing Leonard in person during these playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a huge Kawhi fan,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cI think he\u2019s awesome to watch. I love his demeanor, his work ethic, how he goes about his own business and he\u2019s never blaming anybody. He never complains. He kind of just goes out, does his work and is always thanks his teammates. He\u2019s never putting anything on himself. It\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard\u2019s moment of entering the realm of NBA superstardom probably came in the 2014 finals when San Antonio faced Miami for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

Leonard scored nine points in a Game 1 win, nine points again in a Game 2 loss. He was struggling, almost deferring too much to Spurs leaders like Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili. That\u2019s when San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich gave Leonard now-infamous advice: \u201cThe hell with Tony, the hell with Timmy, the hell with Manu, you play the game. You are the man.\u201d<\/p>\n

The words resonated.<\/p>\n

Leonard\u2019s point totals in finals games since that night: 29, 20, 22, 23, 34, 30, 36. The Spurs won the 2014 title to end LeBron James\u2019 time in Miami and the Heat \u201cBig Three\u201d era. The Raptors are a win away from ending Golden State\u2019s two-year run as NBA champs and potentially ushering in major roster changes for the Warriors this summer as well, with Kevin Durant among the team\u2019s free agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of talent and we\u2019ve got a lot of pride and these guys have been to the finals five straight years for a reason,\u201d Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. \u201cThey\u2019re unbelievably competitive. And they\u2019re together, and they\u2019re going to fight. They\u2019re going to fight the whole way. So we\u2019ll go try to get one win and, if we can do that, come back (home) and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard has scored 684 points in this postseason, which is already the eighth-most by any player in any playoff run. If he scores 14 more on Monday, he passes No. 7 Kobe Bryant (2009) and No. 6 James (2012) on that list. If he scores 24, he then passes No. 5 Shaquille O\u2019Neal (2000) as well.<\/p>\n

Michael Jordan scored 759 in 1992. James scored 748 last year. Hakeem Olajuwon scored 725 in 1995. Allen Iverson scored 723 in 2001. Leonard is now in their club, their level of elite. And if a second finals MVP trophy comes, Leonard would join only James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as players to claim one of those with multiple franchises.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Leonard said, \u201cuntil you get that fourth win.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the one he\u2019ll aim to get on Monday.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard speaks at a news conference after Game 4 of basketball’s NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland, Calif., Friday, June 7, 2019. (AP Photo\/Tony Avelar)AP | FR155217 AP OAKLAND, Calif. \u2014 There was a moment, not long before the postseason started, when Toronto coach Nick Nurse learned all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 19:22:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}