NBA Scores 2015: Kawhi Leonard leads Spurs to fourth straight win

Leonard’s return has the Spurs looking like champions once again, plus everything else we learned in the NBA on Tuesday night.

by Yaron Weitzman

Jan 21, 2015, 1:00 PM UTC

Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

It was vintage Kawhi Leonard. Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo was setting a screen for Wilson Chandler down on the baseline, and the two Spurs tasked with guarding them, Leonard and Danny Green, got their signals crossed. Suddenly both Green and Leonard were chasing Chandler out towards the right wing while Affalo sprinted towards the left corner.

Leonard noticed this and quickly decided to reverse course. He was immediately met in the paint met by a Jusuf Nurkic screen. The ball was passed to Afflalo, who received it with room to shoot, or at least that would have been the case had it been someone else tracking him. Leonard, though, had somehow managed to shed the screen and make it out to Afflalo. His Gumby arms prevented Afflalo from getting up a shot. Instead, Afflalo was forced to give up the ball. He and Nurkic tried a give-and-go, but Leonard funneled Afflalo into Tim Duncan and the two forced a miss. Leonard then pulled down the rebound.

A few passes later, Leonard received the ball wide open above the three-point line on the left wing. He knocked down the shot to give the Spurs a 13-point lead and force a Nuggets time out. Nine minutes later the final buzzer sounded and the Spurs walked off Denver’s Pepsi Center court with 109-99 win, their fourth in a row. Leonard finished with 17 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The Spurs now stand at 27-16, but in games without Kawhi Leonard they’re 9-9. Leonard missed 17 games in the month of December -- due to a freak hand injury-- which just happened to be the first month in nearly 16 years in which the Spurs lost more games than they won (Feb. 1999 was the last time that happened). He returned to the court last Friday, four games ago, and the Spurs haven’t lost since.

When Leonard plays this season, the Spurs score more efficiently and play better defense. This is something the numbers show. The Spurs' defensive rating this year is is 99.7. With Leonard on the court it falls to 93.9. That's about six points lower than the Warriors' league-leading mark of 96.7. The Spurs' offensive rating this year is 101.4. With Leonard on the court that number jumps to 107.4.

That’s the beauty of Leonard’s skill set -- that a player averaging 15 points and eight rebounds per game can impact so much on the court. As illustrated above, he has the brains to sniff out an opponent’s play and the tools to completely blow it up. The Spurs may have a roster full of future Hall of Famers, but it’s Leonard who now makes the team go. When he plays, the Spurs are as good as anyone, and a legitimate threat to repeat as champs.

3 other things we learned

The Thunder are coming. Oklahoma City improved to 21-20 with its 94-84 win over the Heat Tuesday in Miami. It's the first time the Thunder have been above the .500 mark all season. They still trail the surging Phoenix Suns by three games for the eighth seed in the Western Conference, but the Thunder have now won three in a row and appear to, finally, be getting on track. They struggled offensively against the Heat (45 percent shooting, 6-of-26 from behind the three-point line), but forced 19 Miami turnovers to make up for it. They also got strong all-around performances from both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Durant just missed a triple-double, finishing with 19 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, to go along with four steals. Westbrook also had 19 points and four steals, as well as ten rebounds and six assists. It was an impressive performance from the Thunder's two superstars, an example of how both are capable of impacting a game even when their shots aren't going down.

The Hassan Whiteside Experience might be in jeopardy. First, the good. After struggling and barely playing Friday night against the Kings, Whiteside came out with lots of energy Tuesday, dunking the ball five times -- his only five shots -- and scoring 10 points in 11 minutes of action.

Now, the bad. The reason he only played 11 minutes is because of the play below, which occurred early in the second quarter.

As you can see, that’s an ugly ankle sprain. Here’s what the Heat had to say about Whiteside after the game:

Spo on Whiteside’s status (sprained ankle): "He likely won’t travel with us (to Charlotte). It is not a 3rd degree (sprain)."
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) January 21, 2015

Later it was confirmed that Whiteside won’t be traveling with the team to Charlotte. It would be a real bummer if Whiteside is forced to miss an extended period of time. He’s been one of the more fun stories of the season so far, and hopefully he can return to the court soon.

It's time for the Nuggets to start selling off parts. Denver is not making the playoffs. This is something the team's brain trust should realize by now. Tuesday's loss to the Spurs was the team's fourth in a row. The loss also dropped the Nuggets -- who are now six-and-a-half games behind the Suns with two teams ahead of them -- to 12-10 at home, the place where they are supposed to be unbeatable. The Nuggets have lots of valuable parts -- Arron Afflalo, Wilson Chandler, Kenneth Faried -- who could net them some assets. It's time to start cashing in.

Play of the Night

Turns out having Chris Anderson switch onto Kevin Durant is not a good idea. Having him chase him way out above the three-point line is an even worse idea.