The defending champion San Antonio Spurs nearly blew a 24-point lead over the hapless and winless Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night before holding on to win.
Actually, mostof the defending champion San Antonio Spurs watched as their team nearly blew a 24-point lead. Tim Duncan (old) and Tony Parker (bruised rib, also old) sat the whole game, and Manu Ginobili was allowed to rest for the entire fourth quarter. Even with those three future Basketball Hall of Famers sitting, though, the Spurs were able to hold off the Sixers by working through Kawhi Leonard down the stretch, as the 23-year old scored six points with two rebounds and a steal in the quarter. His spin move and three-point play, pictured above, was the Sixer-killer with under a minute to play.
To hear Spurs coach Gregg Popovich tell it, though, Leonard would have seen the ball in his massive mitts a whole heck of a lot even if his legendary teammates were roaming with him. From Michael Lee at the Washington Post:
“We’re trying to loosen up a bit and give him more of a green light,” Popovich said. “He’s getting more license. When you’re a young kid, you’re going to defer to Timmy and Manu and [Tony]. Now it’s like, ‘To heck with those guys. The Big Three, they’re older than dirt. To hell with them. You’re the Big One. You’ve got to go do your deal.’ So, we’re trying to get him to be more demonstrative in that regard.”
Then there is this lovely nugget:
Lee reports that the Spurs actually sent him game film of MJ from the 1990s, which makes sense because I was wondering where that big box of VHS tapes from my garage went.
Leonard will never be the sort of scoring swingman that can flatten the floor and consistently beat his defender off the dribble. He doesn’t have poor ball handling skills, far from it, but anyone expecting him to approximate, say, LeBron James’ work from his Cavaliers’ trip to the 2007 NBA Finals would be left wanting.
What Kawhi does have is length, those wonderful hands, great touch, and emerging footwork. He’s not there yet with his back to the basket, but for Popovich to be encouraging this sort of spinning triple-threat play at such an early point in Kawhi’s career is fantastic. He’s not even on his second contract yet, and yet Kawhi Leonard is already perfecting the old man moves.
The Spurs won their 2014 title through ball movement and anticipation. Few plays were called as the rock whipped around the court and either ended up a few feet from the goal, or in the hands of a capable three-point shooter. For them to repeat as champs, they’ll once again have to keep exasperated defenders on their heels with all the extra passing and beautiful spacing.
With that in place, the motion and the movement aren’t always going to be there, and you’re going to need someone to save the day when teammates start bumping into one another.
The Spurs have plenty of options. Tim Duncan is still quite reliable down low, Manu Ginobili appears to be working into shape but he’ll be just fine come spring, and Tony Parker is surprisingly leading the league in three-point shooting (16-24 on the year!).
Leonard can be better than all of them. Not in comparison to their various peaks, but when this season’s playoffs hit. His potential is that great.
Kawhi hasn’t exactly come into 2014-15 with guns blazing, but his per game and per minute shot attempts are up by a couple, and his usage rate has followed suit. His shooting percentages have dropped but everyone starts slowly at the outset of autumn, and he’s getting to the line twice as much per game. His per game averages of 15.1 points and 7.7 rebounds may not seem star-like, but understand that Gregg Popovich is playing him like he was drafted in 1999: Leonard tops off at 31.1 minutes per game.
A swingman or shooting guard in the post is a wonderful thing. It provides myriad scoring options even if the pivotman doesn’t shoot the ball or make the assist that leads to the basket. Leonard is intelligent, athletic, unselfish and talented enough to do some wonderful things from down there.
Even as Tim Duncan and Tony Parker look on. Or even if they’re on the court.
- - - - - - -
from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1FLPCjq
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire