Eyes on the rim, feet at the stripe, Kawhi Leonard set himself to shoot a free-throw in Wednesday's first half when a cry arose from section 112 inside Crypto.com Arena.
"Thank you for the banner!" a row of fans wearing Toronto jerseys yelled.
In an era when superstars don't stay put long, Leonard's departure from Toronto, and its newly won NBA title, for Los Angeles four years ago can feel like an eternity. Yet Raptors coach Nick Nurse, before the Clippers' 108-100 win, recalled the lasting imprint of Leonard "elevating a lot of people's confidence and people's game" during his lone Raptors season. Leonard's ability to make minute defensive adjustments in the span of a timeout or free throw "was amazing," Nurse said. The development of Toronto's Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet into stars has followed Leonard's lead.
"Kawhi was a 9 to 5, maybe 8:30 to 4:30 guy every day. Pascal is the same," Nurse said. "He's the first guy at the gym. He and Freddy, every morning. They learned a lot from the day of work. Not just the shooting, the entire day of work of shooting, eating, take care, lifting, stretching, hot tub, cold tub, all that stuff. And Kawhi did all that stuff without batting an eye."
This is the version of Leonard the Clippers have seen since January 8, a dominant run two months to the day in the making, a span in which Leonard is shooting 48% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, 51% on pull-up 3s, and 59% of shots inside of 10 feet.
In yet another critical test Wednesday toward the Clippers' playoff goals, Leonard punctuated the team's 108-100 victory over Toronto with five dunks, each one more explosive than the last, the capper his drive into the chest of Raptors center Jakob Poeltl before his right arm slammed the ball over the big man's head.
Leonard scored 24 points, adding 12 rebounds.
"This last run he's been on since January has been unbelievable, one of the highest levels I've seen, and that's how we need him to play to be successful every night," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. "… Since he's been able to rev him up and he's been playing 36 to 37 minutes, he's been playing at a high, high level. So that definitely gives us confidence on both sides of the ball that he can be elite."
Extricating themselves from the play-in tournament will require more players inspiring similar levels of confidence. The Clippers (35-33) remain a work in progress, following a first half filled with turnovers with a snarling, third-quarter defense, allowing 25 points — less than half of the 51 allowed in Sunday's third quarter against Memphis. With 14 dunks, one of the NBA's oldest rosters looked spry. Paul George scored 23 points.
Ivica Zubac's rim protection was indispensable. Terance Mann's role as closer, scoring 14 points in 28 minutes, was invaluable. Russell Westbrook's small contributions setting screens that turned into points were noticeable, indications of the role he is willing to play on his new team.
But just as noticeable was seeing a 15-point Clippers lead with five minutes left reduced to just four with 54 seconds to play, as Toronto couldn't be stopped on the offensive glass while unfurling an 11-1 run. The difficult ending mirrored their troubled start, a lack of consistency that will continue to be their most difficult challenge to overcome in this season's final 14 games.
Leonard opened the game pump-faking Toronto's OG Anunoby into the air at the 3-point line before beating Siakam's help defense to the rim for a dunk. It was one of the rare first-quarter possessions ending in a Clippers shot.
After four turnovers in fewer than five minutes, including two by Westbrook, Lue replaced his starting guard with Eric Gordon. But only 19 seconds later, Leonard threw a pass picked off by Anunoby. One minute after that, Lue took his second timeout of the quarter after Siakam stole a pass thrown by Gordon.
The turnovers had the effect of distilling a game of complex scheme and execution into a straightforward math problem. By the first quarter's end, the Clippers had given away the ball seven times, and Toronto had taken 10 more shots; nine of the Raptors' 25 points had come from Clippers mistakes, playing directly to the strength of the league's leader in percentage of points derived from opponent turnovers. When Gary Trent Jr. corralled the eighth Clippers turnover and drove for a fast-break dunk, Westbrook slapped the shot away in a dramatic block. But he was the only Clipper to run back on defense — the Raptors grabbed the loose ball for a score, anyway.
But as poor as the Clippers were at holding on to the ball, the Raptors proved just as ineffective at shooting it. Despite a massive 16-shot disadvantage, the Clippers entered halftime tied. What had been a 10-point Toronto lead was eliminated in part by lineups featuring both Westbrook and Mann, a double jolt of energy.
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