Kawhi Leonard

Kawhi Leonard Nets Fourth Career West Player Of The Week Honor

... today announced that San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, Feb. 27, through Sunday, March 5. Charlotte's Kemba Walker was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. With his fourth career Player of the Week honor, Leonard becomes the fifth player in Spurs franchise history to be named Player of the Week at least four times, joining George Gervin (4), Tony Parker (8), David Robinson (14) and Tim Duncan (23). This marks the second time he has been named Player of the Week this year, after receiving the award twice last season. Leonard averaged 32.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 4.00 steals in 39.4 minutes, leading the team in scoring with 30-plus points in all three games and helping the Spurs go 3-0 for the week. He started off the week by hitting a game-winning shot with 2.4 seconds remaining and scoring 31 points (11-22 FG, 6-6 FT) to go along with 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals in 34 minutes in a 100-99 victory against Indiana on March 1. Two nights later Leonard scored 31 points, putting him alongside George Gervin and David Robinson as the only three Spurs in franchise history to ...

Kawhi Leonard Nails Turn-around Jumper For Game Winner, Spurs Beat Pacers 100-99

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The Spurs Can Still Grab The No. 1 Seed In The West

... in every single MVP conversation for this season. James Harden dominated the game early by scoring 23 points in the first half. Not only was it 23 points but it was against the Spurs, who have the No. 1 defense in the league. While Harden dominated early, Leonard took over when it mattered. With 25 seconds left in the game, he hit a huge three-pointer to put the Spurs up 110-108. On the very next sequence, he came down and had a massive chase down block on Harden. The best part of the entire sequence was Manu Ginobili losing his mind. Manu, who was just like the rest of us as Kawhi took over the game, also discussed who Kawhi is becoming as a person and a player. More Manu on Kawhi: "he's very confident now. Before he was more introverted. He knows he owns the team.". — Jim Lefko (@jimlefko) March 7, 2017. What a coincidence and what a way to celebrate the big win. Kawhi Leonard was randomly selected for a drug test after ...

Drug Test Can't Wait After Leonard Lifts Spurs

... as the San Antonio Spurs rallied for a 112-110 win over the Houston Rockets. Leonard's game-high 39 was matched by Houston MVP candidate James Harden in a battle that went to the wire, as the former knocked down a 25-foot go-ahead 3-pointer with 25.4 seconds remaining before blocking the latter's shot on the ensuing possession with 18.9 ticks left to seal the game. "Those guys were hitting shots, big shots," Leonard said. So his mentality on the final sequence was to "just get back and get a stop," he said. Even Harden complimented Leonard's block, although he said he got fouled on the play, apparently by Spurs forward David Lee. "That was a good block, but initially I got fouled," Harden said. "That's why the ball took so long to get up, but it's a good block.". On the bench, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili put both hands on his head in disbelief. Point guard Tony Parker , meanwhile, expected what transpired. "I knew he was going to get [the block] because James took that little bump. So ...

There's One Thing That Makes Kawhi Leonard Smile

... to Kawhi Leonard about the custom fit he was wearing, the style of his former teammate Tim Duncan , and more. Tell me about the custom sweatsuit you're wearing. Who made it. These two young guys out of New York. You reached out to them. Nah, we were looking for someone to make a sweatsuit with, and these two guys were young and driven, and wanted to start something new. Their names are Chris and Clayton Griggs. How long did the custom take to make. It was about a two or three month process. I just wanted to start off with something simple. Something that fit slim, felt good, and was made with good materials. Did you have fun picking out fabrics? Is that something that interests you. Yeah, I mean, I had an idea of the type of terry I wanted to go with, so it wasn't too hard. It came naturally to me. Where did the logo come from. It was honestly just something I sketched out, to get the K, W, and L all in there. Are you a graphic designer on the side. Nah [laughs]. It looked terrible at first but the guys made it look a lot better for the real one. How many real suits do you own. Maybe just one. But I own some sport coats, too. Do you just try to ...

Kawhi Leonard’s Impact Reminds Pelicans Coach Alvin Gentry Of Michael Jordan’s

... very disruptive and the demeanor he plays with.”. Warriors coach Steve Kerr also took a moment to sound off about Leonard last season. “We always talk about two-way players and how important it is, especially in the modern NBA, where you can’t hide a guy at either end,” Kerr said last January, according to CSN Bay Area. “He’s probably the best two-way player in the league now. “You have to deal with him in all kinds of different ways. He’s a terror on defense, and offensively he’s gotten better and better. His 3-point shooting is really, really good. And he’s so strong that he can score around the rim. He’s a great player, and it’s kind of slowly but surely become his team in a lot of ways.”. Leonard is averaging 26.1 points per game on 48 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent shooting from downtown. Defensively, he holds opponents ...

Kawhi Leonard’s Rise To Superstardom

... All this newfound offensive firepower comes alongside Leonard’s reputation as an all-world defender. The game-winning block Monday night will stand out, but it’s Leonard’s body of work that speaks for itself. His defensive numbers have been a little hard to decipher this season (they dipped badly early in the season), but defensive metrics in the NBA often are. His metrics have since normalized, and while his defensive Real Plus-Minus is still just OK, he’s now back near the top of the league in points allowed per 100 possessions as the primary defender (82.1 points per 100 possessions) and is recovering on the leaderboards of other individual stats. In all likelihood, even a sustained run of games like Monday night’s won’t do much to change Leonard’s reputation as a souped-up role player. In fact, he’s averaged 33.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.3 steals in four games in March and erupted in high-profile ...

Kawhi Leonard And The Mvp Conversation

... has dipped to 38.9 (it was 44.3 last season) — and he missed an extended period in the second half after picking up his fifth foul. But this was telling: When Pau Gasol talked about how the Spurs compensated for Leonard’s absence, he said it was important “that the team still functions and is successful regardless of the best player not being out on the floor.”. Best player. Well, then. “He’s just earning everything he’s getting,” Gasol added. “He’s this guy that has a tremendous body to play this game, but he’s worked hard to be where he’s at, and he’s made progress every single year. “When players are great there’s no secret. A lot of work goes into it, a lot of dedication goes into it, and he puts a lot of work into his game to be able to play the way he does. He spends a lot of time working on footwork, on pullup (jumpers), on every ...

Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard Quiet In West’s All-star Game Win

... user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images). Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images. Image 9 of 18. NEW ORLEANS, LA - FEBRUARY 19: Le Bron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers dunks the ball in the first half of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game at Smoothie King Center on February 19, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images). Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images. Image 10 of 18. NEW ORLEANS, LA - FEBRUARY 19: Kyrie Irving #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers gestures in the first half of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game at Smoothie King Center on February 19, ...

Kawhi Leonard Makes Everyone Wonder If He, Not James Harden, Should Be Mvp

... Harden. While that may still be the case, Monday’s Rockets-Spurs game served as quite the argument for Kawhi Leonard, particularly the final 30 seconds. Leonard provided a potent reminder that he may possess the league’s best combination of offensive and defensive skills, as he led a comeback from a 16-point first-half deficit in a 112-110 San Antonio win. With 25 seconds left, the two-time all-star hit a go-ahead three-pointer, then raced back the other way to block Harden’s layup attempt. So about that Kawhi Leonard guy…. __link__/ZLg 4 ekd 7 mi. — The Cauldron (@The Cauldron) March 7, 2017. Leonard also hit a pair of free throws after that sequence to seal his team’s win, finishing with 39 points on 12 of 18 shooting and a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Harden posted ...

Moreno Valley's Kawhi Leonard And The Mvp Conversation

... nothing about stardom and everything about the benefits of hard, honest work. “It makes you feel good just knowing that those summers translated to the season,” he said. “There’s carryover from the summertime, getting better, all those reps. They’re not going to waste.”. This is what makes Kawhi different from so many of the players in this league. He is totally about the game, not about landing the biggest shoe contract or amassing the largest number of Twitter followers. (For the record, he’s an Air Jordan guy, and his verified Twitter page has four tweets, the last of which was posted in July, 2015.). And he has shown significant progress in each of his six seasons. His scoring average has increased every year and now stands at 25.8, eighth in the league. Along with that, he averages 5.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.8 steals a game. He has had 19 30-point games this season, which by itself is a interesting but not terribly significant stat except for this nugget: Only three other Spurs players have had 20 or more 30-point games in a season: George Gervin (seven times), David Robinson (four) and Tim Duncan (one). That’s two ...