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TORONTO – Between the multiple MVP songs that rained down from the crowd and the 31 points and 10 rebounds he jammed Friday's box score with the Raptors' impressive 113-101 win over the Celtics, it would be easy to badume that this already, is Kawhi Leonard at his best.
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Kawhi Leonard had 31 points and 10 rebounds, Serge Ibaka added 21 points and the Toronto Raptors beat the Boston Celtics 113-101 on Friday night in an early matchup between Eastern Conference contenders.
The Raptors do not believe it yet, but they will be troubled for the opponents of the East this season.
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Yet Leonard and his teammates would say that's off-base and that's the two-time all-star is just rounding back into shape and getting his bearings. If anything, this is simply the beginning of Leonard's basketball rebirth.
In the second game of the season, Leonard Pieced together has a dominant stretch in the third period, logging 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting in just eight minutes of playing time. Nick Nurse and guard Kyle Lowry's effort to get him to the ball in a different spot, a turnaround jumper, a three, and then finally finishing with a layup. And it was during free throws he shot that quarter that the MVP chants first began.
"It's a little early [for those chants], he said, while explaining that he appreciates the feeling.
But who could blame anyone for being this excited so soon? Leonard had not scored 30 points in a game since May 3, 2017 against the Rockets, during the Western Semifinals Conference. He admits that he still does not have his legacy. And he is not yet fully comfortable with the offense, which he often breaks to find his own shot.
"We're gonna take some time, we're gonna take some time, we're gonna take some time" for a year and a half, "said Raptors teammate Danny Green, who came over Leonard from San Antonio via trade. "But I do not have a schedule for him." But I do not expect him to be here. be back to his old, efficient self. "
Leonard manhandling Gordon Hayward on the block for a bucket, or Kyrie Irving for a long time forward to cut the rim for a dunk down the lane.
"I think you're going to be doing anything wrong, you're not doing anything wrong." "He's gonna get some of that stuff, because he's a great player," said Boston coach Brad Stevens, adding that the Celtics' double- teams were occasionally too late to stop him from making a play. "No matter who Kawhi was against, Kawhi was doing well."
Leonard's scoring thus far. First, a number of his shots that would seem to go against the grain of Nurse's system, which is predicated on ball movement. Leonard, much like on Wednesday, when he dribbles or dribbles, he takes his time; even if they did not always come within the flow of the offense.
Nurse suggests he was fine with that for the time being.
"To be honest, it was not your ball movement, but we were trying to get to some places we thought we could get to," he said, referring to perceived mismatches.
Secondly, and more important long-term, Leonard could quietly become the Raptors' own version of what gives Toronto fits for years, before LeBron James left the conference to go West. By a single-handedly taking over games in the second half and controlling tempo, Leonard was able to nullify a first defense like Boston's the same way James did with Toronto's last postseason and before -a dynamic Raptors lacked with DeRozan, who is more of a finesse player than Leonard, who can only muscle and back his way towards the basketball.
On Friday morning at shootaround, Irving declined to compare Leonard's otherworldy strength with James's, saying there was no joy in such an exercise. But Lowry, when asked about the strength Leonard illustrates in the post, said he very much likes what he sees.
"To watch it is pretty cool." He can play his butt off – especially when he's aggressive, "Lowry said. "He's a guy who's hard to stop when he gets to his spots, and I think tonight he played extremely hard and got to his spots."
And to think, this is just the beginning for Leonard and his new team.
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