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He was great tonight. The rest has helped him get his lift back a bit. Danny Green was also very clutch tonight. He's come a long way from the 2012 WCF jitters.
Just shows you how strong his core is.His D on Bron was absolutely fantastic. I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but there was this one play in the third when Kawhi was resting, Danny was guarding Lebron, Lebron took it in the post, gave Danny a bump and Danny stumbled back two steps before recovering with Timmy coming over to help. I bring that up because I watched Kawhi very closely, Lebron banged with his all game and Kawhi didn't stumble back once. That was some impressive from the second year player!
He was great tonight. The rest has helped him get his lift back a bit. Danny Green was also very clutch tonight. He's come a long way from the 2012 WCF jitters.
It's his core, and his fundamentals. There was that bit from the espn sports science vid that was posted earlier today that showed how low Kawhi gets and how he widens his stance he's he's on D. It's the same reason I was a decent linebacker in high school even though I was (and am) a skinny white boy. It's just physics, but it's so basic and fundamental that most players don't get it. And it's why Kawhi is such an exciting prospect and has progressed so quickly, he not only has the physical skill set, he's also just so zoned in on doing every little thing that helps him maximize all of that. He's such a special kid, and played a great game, but it's only going to get tougher from here, as there's no doubt the Heat will do everything they can to get Lebron going in the next games.
btw that play involving Danny happened around the 3:50 mark in the first; watching the replay on ESPN and it just happened. The fact that Kawhi was able to stand up to that all game, it's just
LeBrian will come out from now with a view of stamping his brand over KL. That KL got gears not tested until now, watch him go from here.
Without him, Bron would have lit us up.
He knows how to play LeBron. Which is an excellent asset to us.
the future is belong to him
People forget just how big Kawhi is, he's got the length of a PF-C, amazing strength and knows how to use his body. He's 6'7 230lbs, there aren't a lot of SF's that size. There is a video of him on youtube working out without a shirt, dude is pretty jacked. A few more years in the NBA and this guy could get up to around 240! He already looks like he's significantly stronger than his rookie season, and is a much better defender as well.
Kawhi is also a good mid-range shooter, though he rarely gets to take those.
James only had 2 offensive rebounds. If anything that points to a lack of defensive rebounding on his teammates' part.
With the Spurs up 79-78 and the Heat in possession with just over six minutes to go, the Spurs’ win probability is 49.6 percent. But just gaining possession on Leonard’s steal changes it to 58.3 percent. And after Tony Parker puts Norris Cole in the blender and converts the layup, it’s at 65.4 percent. So the whole sequence is an increase of 15.8 percent.
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2013/0...-impact-plays/
I do see a bit of Scottie Pippen in him. I hope he works on his offensive game more with moves like these and gets a chance to shine next year. Players tend to make that big move in their 3rd year.
when was the last time Lebron scored less than 20 points?
Sure, it obviously would've been better if he could've hit one of those (would've tied the game IIRC), but I still love the "if I miss one, I'll hit the next one" mentality. They were also wide open shots that came in the flow of the offense; he had to shoot or he'd be getting an earful from Pop.
Game 2 against Chicago, 5/8/13.
Kawhi did a great job not being dominated and still finding ways to contribute on offense, but let's not kid ourselves. His post defense was effective mostly because James seemed only interested in passing out or shooting a jumper after he got the ball on the block. It was as if James expected the Spurs to freak out and leave someone open as soon as he caught the ball, and when they didn't he wasn't prepared to make them pay for it. I say that because even against Green and Diaw, James shot or passed more often than he actually tried to back them down. The his score on Green in the post, if I recall correctly, was pretty much him getting the ball in the post, facing up, then driving into Green to push him back before getting the bucket. While that move was effective on a smaller player, that's not the type of post game that's going to hurt the Spurs.
I think James is going to try to go Game 3 of the ECF on Sunday. Leonard is going to have to be ready to ratchet his defense up another level. Green and Diaw are going to have to get smarter when defending him, too, as it would be a shame to see Leonard hold his own only for James to get a lot of points in a short time against other defenders (pretty much what Curry did when not guarded by Green but even worse). Also, Leonard barely avoided real foul trouble last night. A more aggressive James may well push him to the pine pretty quickly, so someone else has to step up.
i just checked, to find a game where Lebron didn't score at least 20 points and where it wasn't a 10+ points win, we have to go to January 10th against portland...
Props to Kawhi and Pop's gameplan.
I would really love to see Kawhi fake more 3's and drive baseline. Dude can finish.
I do see a bit of Scottie Pippen in him. I hope he works on his offensive game more with moves like these and gets a chance to shine next year. Players tend to make that big move in their 3rd year.
bigtime move
thanks for gif hitmanyr2k
I loved his work from this game. sure it wasn't lockdown, but considering that he's guarding the best player in the game, is coming back from 10 days of rest and he's a 21 year old in his first Finals, I think Kawhi did pretty good.
He said in one of those interviews that ace3g posted that the tendonitis feels good following the rest, so I'm grateful for that. I think he'll get better too as it goes on, once he establishes more of a rhythm, he just needs to be careful with fouls, just like anyone who guards Lebron. He's fortunate he doesn't have to carry a massive load and we're fortunate he's eager to fulfil his role.
those consecutive missed 3s were painful but he made up for it.
Yeah and he also got this nice fallaway putback that showed his core strength and ath-a-leticismHis D on Bron was absolutely fantastic. I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but there was this one play in the third when Kawhi was resting, Danny was guarding Lebron, Lebron took it in the post, gave Danny a bump and Danny stumbled back two steps before recovering with Timmy coming over to help. I bring that up because I watched Kawhi very closely, Lebron banged with his all game and Kawhi didn't stumble back once. That was some impressive from the second year player!
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