Kawhi Leonard is the terminator

Even though they had a lead of one point to more than a minute of the fourth game, Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors found themselves back to the wall on Sunday in Philadelphia.

The Sixers and their fans at the Wells Fargo Center could almost taste a win, a win that would have given them a huge 3-1 advantage over Toronto before Game 5. And they would succeed despite a bad effort from goal Joel Embiid, who was under time for the second time in the series.

But at the last minute, Leonard, who had almost everything he wanted on Sunday, had other plans. He used a screen of his team-mate Marc Gasol and four dribbles to his right, but the two Philly-Embiid and Ben Simmons pick-and-roll advocates chose to follow Leonard on the right. Where another player could have passed the ball, Kawhi chooses to climb, placing a rainbow pointer 3 on the outstretched left arm of the 7 foot 2 inch Embiid.

In addition to ensuring Toronto had the best two-game series, the shot was still punctuated by a new virtuoso performance by Leonard, who recorded 39 points on 13 out of 20 shots and 14 rebounds. have one of the most effective series we've ever seen from an NBA player in the playoffs, let alone a wing player specifically.

In this series against Philly, Leonard is sort on average 38 points on 62 percent shooting, with a perfect shooting chart. He scored 21 of his 24 uncontested shooting attempts in all four games, including 6 to 6 on Sunday.

Leonard did all this while still having an impact on the defender. He controlled Simmons in the first half before slipping in the third period and severely limited swingman Jimmy Butler, who had scored effectively until that change.

Leonard was not the only one responsible for Sunday's victory in Toronto. Gasol – who had eight points or less in games 1 to 3 – was more aggressive and finished with 16 points in the fourth game. Similarly, Kyle Lowry was looking for his shot earlier and got 14 points after only seven points in the third game. Danny Green was a perfect 8-in-8 from the line. All of these contributions were helpful as Pascal Siakam, arguably the second-best player in Toronto, fired twice out of 10 from the ground while suffering a calf injury, and Serge Ibaka being the only Raptor in mark on the bench.

But make no mistake: Kawhi played like he was happy to do it alone, if he had to. And in many ways, this show is always remarkable, given the distance that separates him from what Leonard had been earlier in his career, before becoming a well-defined franchise player.

According to advanced statistics from the NBA, only 33% of Leonard's baskets were assisted during the season, while the remaining two-thirds were created by themselves. Snapshots over time illustrate how much it has rocked almost entirely, as he has become more of a one-on-one player. In the 2012-13 regular season, for example, 65% of Kawhi's brands were assisted. This proportion of assisted baskets fell to 54% in 2014-2015 and just under 48% in 2016-2017 before decreasing to one third in these series.

Of course, the question to be raised is whether it is possible for Leonard to continue in this direction. He can not keep shooting at 70% of his average average when he was a 46% shot in the regular season, right?

At a certain level, the answer to this question may depend on the fact that the Sixers are willing to be more aggressive in forcing Leonard to take the ball out of the hand. We have already described what makes Leonard so different from other NBA stars (apart from his mysterious silence): he's doing pretty much everything above average while defending and scoring better than anyone else. But if there is one area to test, it's his way of playing, which is generally derisory compared to that of LeBron James or even Kevin Durant. (Both contemporaries regularly benefit from a ratio of 2 aides for a turnover, while Leonard has not yet recorded such a season.) Leonard, who has collected five assists and seven turnovers , has a ratio closer to 1 playoffs, with 31 assists and 29 turnovers so far.

Kawhi was the least effective NBA winger in the last regular season, while the opposing defenses either blitzed him or trapped him in choices, with the Raptors only getting 0.46 points per chance in such situations, according to Kawhi. Second Spectrum data.

While Philadelphia has not yet been able to stop Kawhi, like the Terminators, the Sixers have at least something to try in the hopes of slowing it down as the series returns to Toronto.