Steve Kerr, coach of the league’s best team and possible MVP, summed up everything you need to know about how well Kawhi Leonard is playing right now.
Be very afraid of Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs
The Spurs’ forward dominated the Warriors on Sunday, much like he’s dominated the rest of the NBA in the last 20 games. He’s why opponents don’t want to see San Antonio in the playoffs.
Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
“He was the best player on the floor,” the Warriors coach said after watching his team get blown out by Leonard and the Spurs on Sunday.
San Antonio’s talented young forward had 26 points and seven steals in just 24 minutes of playing time. He made Stephen Curry look silly and Harrison Barnes inept. He made the Warriors’ normally-stingy defense look weak.
Kerr was right: Leonard was the best player on the floor. More impressive, though, is that Kerr’s statement surprises nobody. Leonard has become a beast, a dominant wing capable of taking over a game in a variety of ways. Because of him, the Spurs once again look like contenders and last year’s Finals MVP is looking for some more hardware.
At 6'7 and 230 pounds, but with guard-like quickness, Leonard could always defend. He's only gotten better in that area, to the point where he can now dominate games just by guarding people. He did that Sunday, holding Barnes to four points and using his octopus-like arms to bother Curry in a way no one else has all year. Curry is arguably the best ball-handler in the NBA, and yet even he couldn't keep his dribble when Leonard was on him. Curry had his pocket picked by Leonard three times on Sunday.
Plays like those make Leonard the best perimeter defender in the league. Not only does he lock even the best scorers down in a Bruce Bowen-like way, but he also is able create points for the Spurs by turning opponents over. As a team, the Spurs are allowing opponents to score just 99.6 points per 100 possessions this season, the second best mark in the league. When Leonard plays, that number falls even further to a ridiculous 96.8, per NBA.com.
Yet it’s Leonard’s evolution on offense that’s allowed him to morph into one of the NBA’s best players. He had 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting on Sunday, with eight of those makes coming near the rim.
In his fourth season in the league, Leonard has figured out how to score in a variety of ways. He can use the dribble to get by his man. He can post up smaller opponents and use his new right-handed baby-hook to finish. He can hit from downtown and still has the foul-line pull-up jumper that he loves. On the season, Leonard is averaging a team-high 16.3 points per game and shooting 47 percent from the field. His offensive rating of 108.5 is the second highest on the team behind Tiago Splitter.
A look at how the Spurs have been playing since mid-January gives us a better idea of just how dominant Leonard and the Spurs have become. Leonard was forced to miss 15 games with an injury to his right hand in late December and early January, when the Spurs looked mortal. He returned to the lineup on Jan. 16 and the Spurs are 27-10 since. They’ve also won 17 of their last 20 games and now seven in a row.
Also, Kawhi Leonard is really kicking ass over the past 21 games, since Feb. 25: 19.0 ppg, 53.3 FG%, 37.7 3pt%, 7.1 rpg, 2.8 spg, 1.0 bpg.
— Dan McCarney (@danmccarneySAEN) April 6, 2015 Spurs allowing only 96.8 points per 100 possession when he's on the court during that span, with a plus 19.2 net rating.
— Dan McCarney (@danmccarneySAEN) April 6, 2015 These are insane, near-MVP level numbers. They’re also ones that should be scaring the rest of the league. At 51-26, San Antonio is currently in sixth place in the West, but just two games behind second-place Houston.
At this point, their seed doesn’t really matter. Last year’s Finals MVP is playing the best ball of his career, so he and Spurs can beat anyone, anywhere. This is why every West contender is trying to avoid San Antonio’s path for as long as possible.
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