San Antonio Spurs: Coronation Of Kawhi Leonard Continues

Despite facing a depreciated opponent, San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard has used Round 1 of the NBA Playoffs as a tool to continue his ascension among the league’s elite.

For the San Antonio Spurs, round one of 2016 NBA playoffs has served as somewhat of a bye.

Facing a depleted Memphis Grizzlies — a team in which their own forward, Matt Barnes, described as a collection of “cutlery in an armed gun fight” — the Spurs have done what we expected them to do: suffocate and annihilate their undermanned opponent.

But, while it’s hard to gauge the significance of San Antonio’s dominating performance against an assembly of D-League fodder and NBA journeymen, Kawhi Leonard‘s play continues to impress.

And on Friday night the two-time, and reigning, Defensive Player of the Year showcased his entire repertoire when he became the first player in NBA history to record six threes and five blocks in a postseason game, per Elias, while the Spurs routed Memphis for a 3rd consecutive game.

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In particular, the drastic strides he has made offensively never cease to amaze.

Yes, the Grizzlies are stripped of their star power with Mike Conley and Marc Gasol sidelined, but they still house the fundamental ingredients of Grit ‘n’ Grind out on the perimeter with veteran defensive-minded bullies Tony Allen and Matt Barnes roaming the wings.

However, you wouldn’t know Allen was a multi-time All-Defensive team member by watching Kawhi utterly destroy and dissect the man affectionately known as “the Grindfather” during Game 3 in Bluff City.

More explicitly, Leonard scored every way imaginable — catch and shoot 3s, mid-range pull-ups, drives to the rim, Kobe Bryant-/Michael Jordan-like turnaround fadeaways; Sugar K had it clicking on all cylinders.

He would finish the night compiling 32 points and seven rebounds, while swiping away four steals and swatting five shots.  Leonard did all that while committing no turnovers and going 11-for-20 from the field.

For someone who was considered by many draft pundits as offensively inept during his days as a San Diego State Aztec, Kawhi has accomplished the pinnacle of player development: morphing from a toolsy athlete who happened to play the game of basketball into a fundamentally sound basketball player who just so happened to also be a freak athlete.

In addition to his tough shot-making capabilities, Leonard did his usual “thing” on defense — delivering an unprecedented brand of ball pressure, doing his best impression of a praying mantis as he lunges for steals, sucking in every loose ball conceivable with his gigantic, disproportionate hands, and frustrating the bejesus out of Lance Stephenson with his suffocating ball denial.

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A lot has been written and said of the rise of Kawhi Leonard this year.  His maturation has been well-documented. But when you sit back and realize just exactly how much the 24 year-old pterodactyl has improved since winning the NBA Finals MVP in 2014, when he was considered by the majority of his peers as a “system player”, it’ll your deepen the appreciation for the Claw.

To have the likes of Kevin Durant to completely change his tune and opinion of you, and your opponent, in Zach Randolph, to give you unadulterated praise as your series is still proceeding, you must be doing something right — and for Kawhi, he can do no wrong.