Toronto Raptors: Kawhi Leonard delivers career-best playoff performance
The Toronto Raptors proved they were ready for Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers as Leonard led the way with another dominant performance.
If Toronto Raptors fans weren’t confident going into Round 2 against the Philadelphia 76ers, Kawhi Leonard gave them every reason to be.
Registering a career playoff high 45 points, Leonard continues to remind everyone why the team was excited to have him in the fold. We might sound like a broken record to talk about another dominant performance from Kawhi but the Raptors haven’t seen this type of dominance in the post-season.
As CBC.ca wrote, Leonard put up the second-best mark in franchise history behind Vince Carter who had 50 points 18 years ago against Philly. What differs between Leonard and Carter obviously is the championship pedigree Leonard brings.
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This is a player who won an NBA Finals MVP award shutting down the Miami Heat and the “Big Three” in 2014 and as good as his defence was, his offensive output put him in another category. Seeing him bully the Sixers defenders Saturday was a marvel to see considering the team hasn’t had a player take over as he has.
For years, the Raptors had been trying to figure out how to get past LeBron James but were never able to get it done. Now, most teams are trying to figure out how to stop Leonard.
The only subpar performance he’s had so far was when he had the flu in Orlando but Pascal Siakam was able to pick up the slack.
Brett Brown knows all too well what Leonard is capable of considering he was a part of Greg Popovich’s coaching staff in San Antonio.
"“Every year, he gets more dominant,” Brown told the Washington Post. “Even when I came to Philadelphia, those years that I was in Philadelphia looking in the rear-view mirror of him evolving under Pop and in the San Antonio Spurs’ system, you could just see this thing’s trending in an incredible way.”"
Really the only time the Raptors looked outmatched by Philadelphia was when Leonard was on the bench but that wasn’t too often. Jimmy Butler and Ben Simmons simply can’t provide the defence the Sixers need to shut down Leonard.
They might try to make their impact on the other end of the floor but from what we’ve seen since Game 1 of the first round, the Raptors are all business.
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It will be interesting to see what Leonard has in store for Game 2.