The Toronto Raptors’ shocking blowout win over the Golden State Warriors in Oakland Friday night has them one victory away from their first title.
Game 4 of the NBA Finals should be dubbed the Kawhi Leonard game. He dropped 14 points in the first quarter to keep his Raptors close. That span saw the rest of Leonard’s teammates score a combined three points.
Leonard then went off for 17 points in the third quarter to turn a four-point halftime deficit into a double-digit advantage. Game, set, match.
Though, when looking further into Leonard’s performance, it becomes clear that he has dominated from an historical perspective during these Finals.
- Leonard dropped 36 points in the 105-92 victory. He also had zero turnovers. The likely series MVP is the second player in NBA Finals history with 35-plus points and zero turnovers. The other? Michael Jordan.
- Leonard scored 30-plus points while shooting 50/40/90 in Game 4. It’s the third time he’s done this during the postseason, tying Kevin Durant for the most ever.
- Leonard is now the first player in history to average 30-plus points, 10-plus rebounds, four-plus assists and three-plus three-pointers through the first four games of the NBA Finals.
- Leonard has scored 30-plus points 14 times in these playoffs. That’s the fourth-most ever, behind Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Kobe Bryant.
We noted earlier this postseason that Leonard as on a hot streak like nothing the NBA has seen since Michael Jordan.
That’s fine and dandy. But upping your game to the level we’ve seen in the NBA Finals is a completely different story.
Leonard heads into Game 5 Monday night averaging 30.8 points and 10.8 rebounds while shooting 45% from the field and 40% from distance.
He could legit score five points and would win the NBA Finals MVP if Toronto were to come out on top. That’s how good the dude has been.