Kawhi Leonard was the rain on the Golden State Warriors’ pre-championship parade. The Warriors were supposed to announce themselves as the dominant team in the NBA, an assemblage of talent the likes of which have never been seen, and Leonard’s Spurs made them look ordinary. That’s just the kind of thing Kawhi does to the perceived elites of the NBA.
He tears them down.
Leonard has won Defensive Player of the Year twice in a row because he defends the best players in the league like Kevin Durant and LeBron James at his position, or even at other positions (like James Harden or Russell Westbrook) and dampens their shine with his impossible blend of physicality and quick hands. And every year, he’s improved offensively without regressing at all as a defender.
He’s become one of the most reliable three-point shooters in the league, and last year he showed an increased ability to drive for his own shot at the rim or from the mid-range. Yet when defenses tightened in the playoffs, he couldn’t quite become the iso scorer that champs tend to need, and which the Spurs definitely needed with the diminished abilities of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan. With the necessary and heavy caveat that it’s only been one game, Leonard’s career-high 35 points against the Warriors showed that he might have finally added that last bit to his game that could make him a true MVP candidate.
Kawhi scored 35 points without hitting a single three-pointer, by scoring in the pick-and-roll, isolating against his defender (he made Andre Iguodala look downright old), and by finishing through contact at the rim. Also of note: he went 15-for-15 at the free-throw line, tying a career high in attempts and setting one in makes. As someone who’s never averaged even five free throw attempts per game over a full season, this is an important development for Leonard, one that could have him challenging for the scoring title (if Harden doesn’t run away with it). The last guy to be a legitimate contender for both the scoring title and DPOY was LeBron James in his first Cleveland go-round, so that gives you a sense of just how special Leonard looked in Game 1 (in which he also got five steals).
When Tim Duncan retired, that left the Spurs in a state of uncertainty. Sure, Duncan had been playing fewer and fewer minutes and the Spurs have reloaded with talent, but the Big Fundamental was the spiritual center of the team and still remarkably effective when he was on the floor. How much would they lose? That question won’t be answered until more of the season is played, but one thing’s for sure — with Duncan out, this is Kawhi’s team, and that makes him an MVP candidate almost as much as the stats will.
Look again at the highlight package above, and you also see some great two-man game between Leonard and the Spurs’ other remaining star, LaMarcus Aldridge. At one point, Leonard drives, collapses the defense and kicks it back out to Aldridge for a jumper in the big man’s favorite spot. Soon after, Leonard is the ballhandler in the pick-and-roll and feeds a perfect pocket pass to LMA on the roll for a dunk.
We’ve taken the Spurs’ beautiful passing as a function of their system for so long, it’s easy to lose sight of the talent required to throw those passes. Kawhi has that talent, and he’ll be relied upon for it more than ever as Tony Parker continues to lose effectiveness over time.
Throughout a seven-game series in the spring, who knows how the Spurs would continue to keep the unholy shooting trio of Steph, Klay, and KD from lighting them up — after all, Kawhi can only guard one of them at a time. But for one game, Leonard proved that the Warriors were mortal, and in doing so made a case for his own legend to grow.
