NBA.com: Spurs need Leonard to show MVP chops in Game 3

http://www.nba.com/2016/news/feature...-city-thunder/

SAN ANTONIO - Before the three-man referee crew missed almost everything that happened in the final 13.5 seconds at the AT&T Center on Monday, the Spurs had a rather sizable miss of their own.
Kawhi Leonard.
On another one of those nights when the home crowd routinely chanted "MVP! MVP! MVP!" each time he stood at the free throw line, truth is Leonard looked anything but elite.


One game after he did everything at both ends of the floor -- the disruptive presence that spearheaded the San Antonio defense and the offensive force that took over in Game 1 -- the do-it-all forward barely stood out from the wallpaper.
Leonard went from shooting 10-for-13 for 25 points in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals to just 14 points, including 1-for-4 and two points in the chaotic fourth quarter.
While the entire sports world was focused on the train wreck of those last seconds, Leonard was able to mostly escape notice and culpability for the difference between a 32-point San Antonio Spurs win in the opener and a 98-97 loss in Game 2.


But if it happens again in the next two games at Oklahoma City over the weekend, the Spurs are going to have a difficult time getting their game back on track.
This is the burden that comes with having your name elevated into the MVP conversation. Once you start putting up those big numbers every night, they become your burden. You must step up and deliver because it becomes part of the expectation not only in the stands and among the pundit class, but within your locker room.
Over a decade in the NBA, LaMarcus Aldridge has proven able to carry that weight. He was the lead horse for nine seasons in Portland and now, having settled into his new home in San Antonio, put up 38 and 41 pointsin back-to-back to back games against the Thunder. But this is not the first time Aldridge was like a raging inferno in the playoffs. He poured in back-to-back 46-point and 43-point efforts on the road in the first round vs. Houston in 2014.


"I'm not thinking about scoring points," Aldridge said. "I'm just trying to do what I can to help us win."
For the Spurs to reclaim home-court advantage in the series will take Leonard reengaging reasserting himself offensively. The Thunder did not make personnel changes following Game 1. Instead, they just asked that Andre Roberson and Dion Waiters ratchet up the level of attention on Leonard.
"We just wanted to come out and make them feel us," Roberson said. "We feel like they got a lot of easy things (in Game 1) and we just wanted to make an adjustment to be more aggressive and physical."
Leonard was unable to attack the rim as consistently and as successfully in Game 2. With Roberson on the bench, Leonard was guarded by Dion Waiters and took him down into the low post to cut OKC's lead to 85-84 with 6:11 left in the game. It was his only basket of the fourth quarter, his final points of the game. Roberson never got back onto the floor as Waiters took over the defense on Leonard down the stretch.

A year ago, when the then-defending champion Spurs blew a 3-2 lead and their first-round playoff series to the Clippers, it was Leonard who slipped most noticeably, shooting 8-for-28 in those last two games. But this has been a season where he has climbed many more rungs on the ladder to become arguably the best two-way player in the game. He won his second straight Kia Defensive Player of the Year Award, led the Spurs in scoring at 21.2 per game. It's been an All-NBA first team performance that will surely land him on many MVP ballots, thus the chants at the foul line. And the burden.
The Spurs contend that while Leonard has played like one of the NBA's top performers, he hasn't received the respect that should come from the officials. Defenders are allowed to be more physical with him, jostling, pushing, grabbing and doing anything to prevent Leonard from getting to the basket and taking over. He doesn't openly complain, but can be seen now pleading his case with the referees a bit more.
Waiters' elbow on Ginobili during the infamous inbounds play wasn't the only time he got physical. Waiters also got rough and tumble with Leonard all through the fourth quarter and so it is that the series is tied 1-1 and the burden to break through is on San Antonio.
Now if the Spurs are going to respond, it's Leonard's turn to push back.

Man if Aldridge somehow goes cold we might possibly be facing a historic beqtdown in Meth City tonight :pctoss

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Originally Posted by south side spur

http://www.nba.com/2016/news/feature...-city-thunder/

SAN ANTONIO - Before the three-man referee crew missed almost everything that happened in the final 13.5 seconds at the AT&T Center on Monday, the Spurs had a rather sizable miss of their own.
Kawhi Leonard.
On another one of those nights when the home crowd routinely chanted "MVP! MVP! MVP!" each time he stood at the free throw line, truth is Leonard looked anything but elite.


One game after he did everything at both ends of the floor -- the disruptive presence that spearheaded the San Antonio defense and the offensive force that took over in Game 1 -- the do-it-all forward barely stood out from the wallpaper.
Leonard went from shooting 10-for-13 for 25 points in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals to just 14 points, including 1-for-4 and two points in the chaotic fourth quarter.
While the entire sports world was focused on the train wreck of those last seconds, Leonard was able to mostly escape notice and culpability for the difference between a 32-point San Antonio Spurs win in the opener and a 98-97 loss in Game 2.


But if it happens again in the next two games at Oklahoma City over the weekend, the Spurs are going to have a difficult time getting their game back on track.
This is the burden that comes with having your name elevated into the MVP conversation. Once you start putting up those big numbers every night, they become your burden. You must step up and deliver because it becomes part of the expectation not only in the stands and among the pundit class, but within your locker room.
Over a decade in the NBA, LaMarcus Aldridge has proven able to carry that weight. He was the lead horse for nine seasons in Portland and now, having settled into his new home in San Antonio, put up 38 and 41 pointsin back-to-back to back games against the Thunder. But this is not the first time Aldridge was like a raging inferno in the playoffs. He poured in back-to-back 46-point and 43-point efforts on the road in the first round vs. Houston in 2014.


"I'm not thinking about scoring points," Aldridge said. "I'm just trying to do what I can to help us win."
For the Spurs to reclaim home-court advantage in the series will take Leonard reengaging reasserting himself offensively. The Thunder did not make personnel changes following Game 1. Instead, they just asked that Andre Roberson and Dion Waiters ratchet up the level of attention on Leonard.
"We just wanted to come out and make them feel us," Roberson said. "We feel like they got a lot of easy things (in Game 1) and we just wanted to make an adjustment to be more aggressive and physical."
Leonard was unable to attack the rim as consistently and as successfully in Game 2. With Roberson on the bench, Leonard was guarded by Dion Waiters and took him down into the low post to cut OKC's lead to 85-84 with 6:11 left in the game. It was his only basket of the fourth quarter, his final points of the game. Roberson never got back onto the floor as Waiters took over the defense on Leonard down the stretch.

A year ago, when the then-defending champion Spurs blew a 3-2 lead and their first-round playoff series to the Clippers, it was Leonard who slipped most noticeably, shooting 8-for-28 in those last two games. But this has been a season where he has climbed many more rungs on the ladder to become arguably the best two-way player in the game. He won his second straight Kia Defensive Player of the Year Award, led the Spurs in scoring at 21.2 per game. It's been an All-NBA first team performance that will surely land him on many MVP ballots, thus the chants at the foul line. And the burden.
The Spurs contend that while Leonard has played like one of the NBA's top performers, he hasn't received the respect that should come from the officials. Defenders are allowed to be more physical with him, jostling, pushing, grabbing and doing anything to prevent Leonard from getting to the basket and taking over. He doesn't openly complain, but can be seen now pleading his case with the referees a bit more.
Waiters' elbow on Ginobili during the infamous inbounds play wasn't the only time he got physical. Waiters also got rough and tumble with Leonard all through the fourth quarter and so it is that the series is tied 1-1 and the burden to break through is on San Antonio.
Now if the Spurs are going to respond, it's Leonard's turn to push back.

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Nice read. Thanks for posting.

I'm betting Kawhi brings it in OKC!:flag:

Pressure is on him more than ever now.

I hope he doesn't force, though. No need to go for 40. Give us a Kawhi game. 25 points, 8 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks. And make Durant and Westbrook's life a living Hell. If LMA can complement that with 25-30 points, we're in good shape. I feel both will play above par, and it'll be the Coshitty who lets them down, per par.

Kawhi will take a nasty wet shit on ST cat krew tonight

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Originally Posted by midnightpulp

I hope he doesn't force, though.

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I've never seen him force. That's one problem from him we ain't seen.

Until Kawhi takes a ton of shots, misses them, and then looks exhausted and defeated at the end of the game, I 'm gonna say he needs to be more aggressive.

Kawhi's problem is that he sometimes plays too timid, not that he forces or tries to do too much.

Welcome to your life KL.

The only thing I'm worried about Game 3 and Game 4 is the officiating

shut down by waiters :wow

:lol

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Originally Posted by Russ

I've never seen him force. That's one problem from him we ain't seen.

Until Kawhi takes a ton of shots, misses them, and then looks exhausted and defeated at the end of the game, I 'm gonna say he needs to be more aggressive.

Kawhi's problem is that he sometimes plays too timid, not that he forces or tries to do too much.

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Kwahi doesn't try to shoot too much, but he does try to force his way to the rim sometimes when there are two or three defenders waiting, whether by driving for a layup or posting up his defender. After several trips to the playoffs, He should be used to the more physical play that the refs allow in them. It can work to his advantage in posting up a smaller player, but since he has become the target that the other team wants to stop, he's finding that posting up isn't so easy since the other team will rotate someone over to double team him. And when we don't have the reliable 3pt shooting in a game, we can't keep the floor spread enough to prevent the double team.

I feel he will work it out with some coaching, but its a shame we lost game 2 with his disappearance in the fourth quarter.

The article is right about one thing.

Leonard has had an embarrassment of riches of MVP chants while standing at the ft line.

Seriously?

Yeah and what is it about these MVP chants that makes them so difficult? No chorus at all it just sounds terrible. If Spurs fans can't even get that right then don't even try. Kawhi has probably bricked a free throw or two because the chant sucks balls.

I don't understand why other people don't understand that if the refs aren't calling fouls Kawhi's drives will be useless. We aren't the roxs or okc for that matter. We especially aren't going to get calls on the road.

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Originally Posted by wildbill2u

Kwahi doesn't try to shoot too much, but he does try to force his way to the rim sometimes when there are two or three defenders waiting, whether by driving for a layup or posting up his defender. After several trips to the playoffs, He should be used to the more physical play that the refs allow in them. It can work to his advantage in posting up a smaller player, but since he has become the target that the other team wants to stop, he's finding that posting up isn't so easy since the other team will rotate someone over to double team him. And when we don't have the reliable 3pt shooting in a game, we can't keep the floor spread enough to prevent the double team.

I feel he will work it out with some coaching, but its a shame we lost game 2 with his disappearance in the fourth quarter.

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7-28 by tp td and dg. Many players went missing in game 2.

If he wants to be in the LeBron/Curry discussion, this is where you have to show up. TD always did in his prime...I have faith in him he will have a good 2 games here in OKC. LMA will cool off so we need the role players to step up big.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by midnightpulp

Pressure is on him more than ever now.

I hope he doesn't force, though. No need to go for 40. Give us a Kawhi game. 25 points, 8 boards, 3 steals, 2 blocks. And make Durant and Westbrook's life a living Hell. If LMA can complement that with 25-30 points, we're in good shape. I feel both will play above par, and it'll be the Coshitty who lets them down, per par.

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Yea that's one of the problems that he forcing some things that he does not need to. And he is not taking advantage of the given opportunities.
All in all he gets better here. Just remember how big of a leap he experienced from last year to this year. I was like wow at the begining of the year. Now he facing defenses that will put pressure on him. He needs to find a balance.

At least he is not Lowry :D

I wouldn't mind seeing Kawhi average 25ppg for the rest of the series.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by south side spur

Yeah and what is it about these MVP chants that makes them so difficult? No chorus at all it just sounds terrible. If Spurs fans can't even get that right then don't even try. Kawhi has probably bricked a free throw or two because the chant sucks balls.

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I don't have a problem with the chants. He's played like one up til last game.

I was referring to this line:

Quote:

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On another one of those nights when the home crowd routinely chanted "MVP! MVP! MVP!" each time he stood at the free throw line, truth is Leonard looked anything but elite.

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He went to the line one time in game two. He went two times in game 1. I wouldn't say the crowd has had the chance to routinely chant as Leonard has rarely been there.

I agree with the article in that Kawhi and the team need to focus on what's coming. You can say that other than LMA and Manu, the whole team struggled with their shots. But this is kawhi's team now and he needs to bring it every night in and every night out. His performance looked like the last games of last year's Clippers series.

As others have said, maybe he was hurt. Maybe he tweaked or pulled something from that awkwardly fall he took in the 1st game. But if he's OK, from now on the Spurs need consistency outta him as would be expected from a top MVP candidate. If we can extract one good aspect of all of this is motivation. I expect Kawhi and the team to be really focused and motivated about going 1-1 instead of 2-0 to OKC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by south side spur

Yeah and what is it about these MVP chants that makes them so difficult? No chorus at all it just sounds terrible. If Spurs fans can't even get that right then don't even try. Kawhi has probably bricked a free throw or two because the chant sucks balls.

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The stupidity level of this is astounding. Just astounding.

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Originally Posted by T Park

The stupidity level of this is astounding. Just astounding.

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You was the one who was chanting :)

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Originally Posted by polandprzem

You was the one who was chanting :)

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Uh no. So what if they were chanting? Who gives a flying fuck?

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Originally Posted by T Park

Uh no. So what if they were chanting? Who gives a flying fuck?

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Some people do. You don't and I also do not care.

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It is funny that Leo needs to show up. Well his D is still elite, and the guy was never a scorer. He is gonna have ups and downs on this end of the floor.

"The Klaw" needs to stop playing like "The Vagina"......PERIOD!!!!!!

Obviously we're not winning shit without Kawhi playing at a high level. I think he's gonna step up tonight.

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Originally Posted by loveforthegame

I don't have a problem with the chants. He's played like one up til last game.

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All I meant was maybe they should put something on the Jumbotron so the chant can be in unison. TPark you obviously didn't get my point. I have no problem with Kawhi getting MVP chants. I just think the fans aren't in sync and it sounds bad.