As Kawhi Leonard moved to center stage for his moment with Bill Russell, his San Antonio Spurs mates raised his arms, caught a wrist with one hand, and splayed the palms of the other as wide as you can. The team “Klaw” hint, an homage to Leonard’s mitts, was accompanied.
The then-22-year-old forwards became the NBA’s youngest Finals MVP aside from Magic Johnson, chiefly on the strength of his shield against Miami Heat celebrity LeBron James. Suddenly, it appeared that Gregg Popovich had yet another franchise participant to take the baton from Tim Duncan. “It’s surreal for me,” Leonard kept replicating.
“Surreal” is the word to describe the YouTube video of the moment, which feels just like a time capsule from a different era, although it took place. Popovich, elated at avenging a 2013 reduction to Miami, looks a decade younger today than he really does. Tim Duncan, Manu Ginóbili and Boris Diaw have retired, although Tony Parker now toils in semiretirement for a Charlotte Hornets backup. ESPN broadcaster Stuart Scott, onstage alongside NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, died in 2015 after fighting cancer.
Elsewhere, James, the target of Leonard’s defense, hadn’t yet penned his return correspondence to Northeast Ohio, created “3-1 direct ” into an eternal meme, or straight out to Hollywood. Along with also the Golden State Warriors had yet to fully unleash Stephen Curry or market Draymond Green to the starting lineup, let alone woo Kevin Durant.
As the NBA has changed since 2014 has Leonard. During that playoff series, he posted modest averages of 14.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists with a use rate of merely 18.9. Thanks for his profile, he was cast as a X-factor in a Finals packed with Hall of Fame talent on both groups.
Leonard, now 27, is finally playing for a name again, after leading the Toronto Raptors past the Milwaukee Bucks in six matches in the Eastern Conference finals. Through an overpowering run to such Finals, the three-time all-star has averaged 31.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists, along with his usage rate has shrunk to 33.1. After years of diligent work in his ballhandling, playmaking and shot-creation, Leonard is now Option A and Option B to Toronto, particularly late in games. He drilled a series-winning jumper to eliminate the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round, and that he regularly took to put the Bucks.
The past five years have been filled with trials. In 2015, the Spurs were eliminated from the first round from the Los Angeles Clippers, as Popovich astonishingly cut Leonard’s minutes in Game 7. In 2016, they have been eliminated from the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Durant outdueling Leonard and Duncan riding off into retirement. In 2017, Leonard emerged as a MVP candidate, simply to watch his year go to waste with a ankle sprain when Zaza Pachulia slipped under him throughout the Western Conference finals. Back in 2018, a leg injury and miscommunication and mistrust between Leonard and the Spurs led him to look in just two matches and also to steer clear of the team throughout the playoffs.
Leonard’s first season in Toronto after a summer vacation has been a victory, but it has required adjustment and patience. Reports originally indicated he didn’t even want to be traded on the Raptors, and rumors persist that he still might render as a free agent . Leonard missed almost a quarter of the 2018-19 season due to “load direction ” — a plan that successfully maintained his entire body for the playoffs but also led many observers to overlook him and the Raptors.
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Given that Durant remains sidelined due to a calf strain and also “improbable to perform in the start of the series based on the team, Leonard will enter these Finals as its principal force. Toronto, viewed by oddsmakers since the clear underdog against the back-to-back champs, will seem to him.
Just like James five years back, he will be the dog orchestrating against intelligent and disciplined defenders. To pull the upset, Leonard will have to score in volume and set off chains of passes against Golden State’s high-pressure traps. He’ll also function as a defensive linchpin, maybe visiting time on all four Warriors stars: Curry, Klay Thompson, Green and Durant (if he return).
This will be an extremely different Finals than the one which helped create Leonard a household name five years back. Anybody ’ s shadow is no longer deferred or plays by him , he isn’t and that he isn’t coached by one of the game ’s greats. Crucially, he won’t be leading a plan to slow down a superstar. He will be on the receiving end of such an attempt.
Beating the Warriors would deliver a validation few might have predicted throughout his time off from the courtroom, and it would probably crown him since the “Best Player in Basketball. ” Those are weighty bets, but making it this far continues to be an accomplishment in its own right.
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