Kawhi’s time still to come as the games get bigger
Raptors star has yet to put stamp on series, and that should be a concern to Warriors
Steph Curry had one of the nights of his basketball life — brilliant, superb, memorable and magnificent — and still the Golden State Warriors couldn’t come close to beating the Toronto Raptors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
That’s significant on its own, and not just because Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant didn’t play in Game 3.
The great Kawhi Leonard has yet to have his signature moment in the finals. He’s been very good at times. Just not game-altering good. Just not unstoppable, part of the best-player-in-the-world conversation.
Thirteen times Leonard has scored more than 30 points in a game this playoff season. That in itself is impressive and historical. LeBron James did it 12 times last season. The unstoppable Durant went over 30 points just seven times in the Warriors’ championship run a year ago.
But that’s the company Kawhi now keeps — the quiet version in the LeBron, Durant, Curry conversation — in the NBA’s modern adaptation of latest all-time greats. This is all he wants, really. To win. To be part of a winner.
But there’s one inconsistency: He doesn’t care to be the show, he says, but understands that, at times, he needs to be the show.
He’s taking fewer shots in the finals than he took in the previous three rounds. His shooting percentage has dropped from 56 to 54 to 45 to 43 over the four rounds. It doesn’t concern him.
“I didn’t know that,” said Leonard, whose shot total has dropped from 23 a game to 17. “It’s not about me. I’m not here to play hero basketball. If there’s two or three guys on me, I’m going to make sure somebody else gets the ball, and they’re going to knock down a shot.
“Obviously, it’s the finals, so there’s probably a little more attention on me from the Warriors side about not letting Kawhi get going, and making his teammates beat us.”
It’s almost the opposite to what the Raptors accomplished in Game 3. They knew with Thompson out, Curry was going to own the basketball. They knew he was going to score. But they were determined the rest of the Warriors weren’t going to beat them.
So Curry scored 47 and the Warriors still came up 14 points short in a 123-109 loss at home. Now Thompson is back for Game 4. Who knows if Durant will come back at all?
The story of this Raptors season, of this amazing playoff run, has been so much about Kawhi.
Is Kawhi staying? Is he going? Does winning a championship make it easier for him to stay or go? Does not winning alter the questions?
Most of that he keeps to himself. But he was more talkative than usual on Thursday, more expansive, especially when asked about this series and his growing legacy as an NBA superstar.
“I’ve never been one of those guys that, growing up in high school, was getting all the media and the college media, so I don’t really think my legacy is going to ever reach the potential of Michael Jordan,” said Leonard. “But as far as me, I just want to play and just let people remember that I played hard at both ends of the floor, (that) I was a winner, and that’s basically it. I’m just here enjoying my dream, having fun. I mean, legacy is going to be opinionated by each person, but I’m just playing right about myself, really, and what I feel, what makes me happy.”
It isn’t particularly intentional that Leonard is shooting less than in the past three rounds and isn’t dominating as much; it’s more circumstantial than anything else.
“The plan is you attack them,” said Nick Nurse, the Raptors coach. “When you draw multiple defenders, do your best to get off it, because you’ve done your job in drawing multiple defenders.
“Kawhi is probably getting a lot more double teams this series than he has in the past. So that’s going to limit his shots. But I also think, especially last night, he did a better job of getting it off a little earlier.”
And in setting up others. Warriors coach Steve Kerr probably should be worried about the fact Leonard hasn’t had a huge game yet, but it doesn’t seem to bother him.
“We’re trying to do the best we can on Kawhi. The guy did have 30 points (in Game 3). I think he had 23 in the second half, so if that’s not a signature game, then I guess he’s still pretty good.
“This is all part of it. Guys have good games. Guys have great games. They have poor games. You just try to win, whatever you have to do.”
That’s pragmatic, the same way Leonard is pragmatic. It’s all about Friday and Game 4.
There’s room for more of Leonard with the Raptors. This close to a championship, there’s all kinds of room and all kinds of possibilities still to come.