Here’s some things you already know. The Spurs, the defending NBA champions, are a contender. The Hawks, the top seed in the East, are heavily influenced by San Antonio — in the front office, on the court, and at head coach, where Mike Budenholzer and Greg Popovich have an elaborate history. And last night’s 114-95 seismic toss in Atlanta put to rest any doubt that the zombie Spurs are coming into form for another run at a title.
Last night’s result may or may not be perverted into an “Atlanta isn’t that good” campaign. It shouldn’t. There’s one unmistakable reason San Antonio whooped its lil’ bro Sunday — and why its won 10 of its last 12games: Kawhi freaking Leonard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LvOpYlv5dY
As Kirk Goldsberry wrote today, nobody looks forward to a night trying to play offense against Leonard. This is why the Spurs slippage before the All-Star break was not particularly damaging to their championship aspirations; this team runs on Leonard, and the Spurs’ two-way success hinges on the claws of its franchise player.
When Leonard won Finals MVP last June, the popular question surrounding San Antonio was whether or not Leonard would become a larger focal point of the offense — much like Tim Duncan on the 1999, 2003 and 2005 title teams and Tony Parker in 2007. Leonard averages just 9.3 FGA per game for his career, and despite his brilliant shooting splits against Miami (.612/.579/.783) he only attempted 11 field goals in the final four games of the most recent Finals. With all of his oddball injuries this season, it’s been difficult, until now, to see if Leonard could handle a larger scoring burden — if he could make a superstar jump offensively to match his All-World defense.
As we saw on Sunday night, yeah, he can.
https://twitter.com/JPlanos/status/580055902805483520
Also, peak Kawhi was 2014 Finals Kawhi. We know that. But today was just different…he was doing everything out there. A lot of fun to watch.
— Matthew Tynan (@Matthew_Tynan) March 23, 2015
There’s so many great details to pluck out of this 12-game sample size. Leonard is averaging 19.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.8 steals. The only player in the NBA averaging those counting stats is Russell Westbrook (surprise, surprise), except Westbrook is doing so with a prime-Kobe usage rate while missing a dozen shots per game. Leonard (61.0 true-shooting percentage) connects far more often than Westbrook (53.7 ts%) from just about everywhere on the floor, and he is turning the ball over three times less per game.
The Spurs are eradicating their opposition whenever Leonard is on the floor. Much of this is because Leonard is modern basketball’s Deion Sanders, shutting down entire halves of the court just by standing around. Per NBA.com, San Antonio is posting a 97.0 defensive rating with Leonard on the floor, and they are outscoring opponents by more than 20 points per 100 possessions.
But the latter figure has as much to do with Leonard’s expanding offensive game as his defensive chokehold on the opponent’s perimeter. As we saw a couple weeks ago in his epic showdown with LeBron James, Leonard has elevated his game, winning one-on-one battles between 15-18 feet, and putting pressure on James, a more than adequate defender in his own right, all night.
https://youtu.be/MwCViM3BFs8?t=18s
Leonard’s size at his position is the stuff of basketball legend, and he is looking more and more comfortable using his strength and height to play bully-ball at the elbows — facilitating, driving or shooting whenever he sees fit. He has connected on 47.7 percent of his mid-range jumpers over this recent stretch, the same clip as Dirk Nowitzki for the season, all while finishing 76.3 percent of attempts inside the restricted area, because why not?
https://twitter.com/SethPartnow/status/579816092316483584
San Antonio is currently 44-25, only good enough for sixth place in the West because life is unfair. But the Spurs are just two games back of the Rockets for third place, and if Leonard and the Spurs continue rising over the final three weeks of the regular season, perhaps Popovich and the gang will get themselves home court advantage after all. Regardless of seed, I’m struggling to think of a team I’d want to play less in late-April than San Antonio. Golden State has earned the right to be the team to beat, but after two consecutive trips to the Finals, everybody should be nervous about Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs.
