Written by Tim Cato at SB Nation.com
After he led a 16-point comeback against a division rival, after he scored 39 points on 12-of-18 shooting with 30 coming in the second half, after he hit the contested game-winning three off the dribble with 26 seconds left in the game, after he ran back on defense to swat James Harden’s would-be game-tying layup off the glass, Kawhi Leonard said he didn’t really know how voters “pick or choose” the MVP each season.
That’s how.
Leonard made his on-court case in about 10 seconds during Monday’s 112-110 win against the Houston Rockets. In the first half, Leonard had watched as fellow MVP candidate James Harden lit up the Spurs, only for Leonard to respond with an even more convincing final 24 minutes. The defining moment was, of course, this sequence.
KAWHI LEONARD FULL SEQUENCE pic.twitter.com/56NbPYJb0Q
— nbaayy (@nbaayy) March 7, 2017
The three-pointer was impressive, but the block was special. That’s what separates him, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said. That’s what makes him Kawhi.
“The three, you know Harden makes threes, Kawhi makes threes, this guy makes threes, that guy makes threes, Steph makes threes, everyone does that,” Popovich said. “But I don’t know who goes to the other end and does what [Leonard] does. Not that many people on a consistent basis, an entire game, game after game. Kawhi wanted it badly, and he went and took it.”
It seemed fitting that Leonard was late meeting the media after the game because of a drug test, as if even the league itself couldn’t believe Leonard is this good. (The tests are administered randomly, so put away your tin foil.) When asked about “his three-pointer,” he asked the reporter to clarify which one — as if the question could be about a shot that wasn’t the game-winning one.
