Kawhi Leonard has long played his own brand of basketball, and he has the track record to back it up.
Kawhi Leonard has come under his fair share of scrutiny throughout his NBA career. His less-than-graceful exit from the San Antonio Spurs and disappointing playoff runs marred by injuries during his tenure with the Los Angeles Clippers have partly defined his career, but he is still one of the most accomplished players in NBA history.
He has six All-Star appearances, six All-NBA nods, two Defensive Player of the Year awards, and, critically, two Finals MVPs.
Despite rarely playing full seasons, Leonard is one of the greatest postseason players in NBA history, and the Denver Nuggets are learning just how hard he is to spot.
With the first-round series tied at 1-1, Leonard is averaging an incredibly efficient 30.5 points per game despite playing an outdated style of basketball.
Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, and Larry Bird are among the best midrange shooters ever. With the exception of Paul, most players have moved away from the shot in the modern era, and players like Tracy McGrady, Carmelo Anthony, and DeMar DeRozan posted excellent scoring numbers with the midrange as a focal point, although none of them ever led their team to postseason success.
In the modern NBA, Leonard is an outlier, and old-school players appreciate that he can score from all over the court, not just from 3-point range like most contemporary wings.
“It’s refreshing to watch,” said Paul Pierce after Game 2, when Leonard scored 39 points. “His game doesn’t look like analytics, he plays like how I play, actually, and how we played in the early 2000s, where mid-range, 3, attack the basket, just doing everything on the court.”
In Game 2, Leonard shot a near-perfect nine-of-ten from the midrange, unintentionally paying homage to the 1990s and 2000s.
“Just to watch a healthy Kawhi, you forget how great he was, because we haven’t had a chance to see him in these playoff moments for the last couple of years,” pined Pierce. “If he could stay healthy, with Harden, the way this Clipper team looks… it could shake things up in the West.”
Angelenos have heard this story before. Since the ‘Lob City’ era and into the Paul George and Leonard Clippers, the team has long been touted as contenders and has always fallen short.
The franchise has never made a Finals appearance, despite boasting Leonard for six seasons. This year, James Harden, who has his own collection of playoff failures, is the second-best player, but the team seems to have put their egos aside.
“He looks like the purest form of basketball, I don’t know how to explain it,” finished Pierce. “I saw a superstar rise to the occasion, it was beautiful to watch at both ends of the court. Scorers like that, myself, when you got it going, there’s nothing that you can really do.”
If Leonard continues his offensive output, which seems unstoppable, and is able to stay on the court, the Clippers are legitimate contenders and should be favored over the Nuggets, although those are massive what-ifs.
