Toronto Raptors need Kawhi Leonard to lead the charge again in Game 6

After missing a great opportunity to close out the NBA FInals in Game 5, the Toronto Raptors will need Kawhi Leonard to leads the charge in Game 6  to close it out.

This might be the most captain obvious statement but the Toronto Raptors blew a big opportunity in Game 5 and now the pressure is squarely on them heading into Game 6.

Obviously, it isn’t time to panic unless the Golden State Warriors pull out a win at Oracle Arena but there are many reasons to be optimistic about the Raptors chances on the road even if they are underdogs.

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Looking back at what transpired in Game 5 with Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry going a combined 12-for-27 from three, the Raptors only lost the game by a single point. The Raptors shot 25 per cent from beyond the arc which probably won’t continue in this series.

While the team would have expected Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and Danny Green to not go 1-for 14 from three, Kawhi Leonard had five turnovers and 2-for-7 from three. It was not until the fourth quarter where Leonard flipped a switch and put the team on his back giving them the lead.

Rewind back to Game 4 where the Raptors struggled offensively in the first half and Leonard came out in the second half and hit as Fred VanVleet put it “a couple of eff-you shots.”

A big storyline this post-season is how Kawhi is performing at a level that would remind many of LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and to some even Michael Jordan.

It’s not just his offensive game but what he provides on defence and after Thompson and Curry put the Raptors through a defensive hole in Game 5, you can probably expect Leonard to provide help in that area. This is what superstar players do when the stakes are at an all-time high.

Obviously, Kawhi can’t be the only player that has to step his game up but out of all the players on the Raptors, he is the one who has shown that he can rebound and we should expect them to be able to do it again when called upon.