Kawhi Leonard - Scintillating Scorer (Playoffs) 16/17

Kawhi Leonard. NBA Champion. NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 2014. 2x NBA All-Star. 2x All-NBA First Team. 2x NBA Defensive Player of the Year. 3x NBA All-Defensive First Team. 2x DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR. This season was San Antonio’s first without the transcendent talent of Tim Duncan, but the Spurs haven’t missed a beat. The franchise recorded 61 wins this year, making it the first time in their storied history that they’ve had two straight 60 win seasons. That is in no small part thanks to the ascendence of Kawhi Leonard’s offensive output.

Kawhi's performance in the playoffs powered him into the pantheon of all-time greats. He had already been having a career (and MVP worthy) year with his 25.5 points per game (good for top 10 in the league) while shooting 88.0% from the foul line, but he elevated even further in the postseason. 27.7 points per game, shooting 52.5% from the field, 45.5% from 3 point land, and 93.1% from the foul line. His rebounding upped from 5.8 to 7.8 and his career best 3.5 assists per game even escalated to 4.6. That may not seem like much, but his usage rate went from 31.2 on the year to 29.4 in the playoffs. The Spurs aren’t a team known for Kobe-esque play. You’ve hardly ever seen a Gregg Popovich-run team have a guy hold the ball at the top of the key in an isolation situation, especially as an end of game play. There always used to be some sort of clever set, some kind of action, but now, Kawhi IS the action.

https://stats.nba.com/players/usage/?...

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