Kawhi drove, he faded, he shot, he weirdly squatted and waited, he celebrated.
See surprise and awe exhibited, in text message form:
“AHHHHH”
“Hoooly shit”
“NO FUCKING WAY. Shot of the playoffs. Wow wow wow.”
“Insane. That had some magic”
“What a finish. I’ve never seen a shot like that”
And finally, obscurely:
“That was the 2nd best Toronto sports experience of my life”
This will be known as the Kawhi Leonard game. I don’t have much to offer to situate this game in the broader context of basketball lore or Raptor’s fandom. The headlines are already out there:
“Kawhi Leonard Delivers the Greatest Moment in Raptors History”
“Kawhi ousts Sixers with unprecedented shot”
“Kawhi Leonard was worth it, even if he leaves the Raptors”
“The Sixers’ Gut-wrenching Loss is Only a Prelude”
And perhaps most succinctly:
I’ll give you what I can: a recap that situates the shot within the context of the game.
Recap: (“Stories of the game” below if you watched it)
First Quarter
The first six minutes of the game were a harbinger of the masonry to come.
Philadelphia missed their first nine shots, and their first 10 of 11. Toronto fared a bit better, hitting three of their first eight, before missing five in a row. Lowry got tagged with his second foul at 6:40, leading to some alarmingly early minutes for FVV. The score was a contentious 6-3 at this point, in favour of Toronto.
Around the 5:00ish and 4:00ish minute mark, Kawhi and Danny Green each stole the ball, giving Toronto some fast break points even if shots weren’t dropping. Toronto stretched the lead to seven a couple of times, but Philly closed the quarter with a Jimmy Butler basket for a score of 18-13 at the end of the quarter. At this point, the Raps were a cool 0-6 on 3’s and Philly 1-5.
Second Quarter
Serge Ibaka, shooting 3’s in this game like he was back on Oklahoma City, broke the Raptors’ long-distance drought at 11:06. I’m not sure what happened to Lowry, but he ran off the court at 8:19 holding his hand in pain – possibly the same one he injured in Game 5 against Orlando, I’m not sure.
Around the 6:00 minute mark, I noticed Kawhi was having having trouble getting to the rim. The double teams were coming at him fast. In particular, the dud possession at 5:27 that ended with a couple of Siakam free throws when the refs bailed him out after some light contact right at the end of the shot clock.
Third Quarter
This quarter was an ugly one. The Raps started off ahead by six, but tons of missed shots meant that Philly took the lead on a Jimmy Butler jumper at 7:15. A JJ 3 extended the lead. Kawhi made a terrible pass around 5:02 – after driving into the corner, where he was again corralled, he picked up his dribble. Kawhi tried to pivot and find an open Toronto player on the perimeter, but trapped by the double team, he telegraphed an extremely gentle pass out to the top of the 3-point arc – an easy steal for Simmons, leading to Butler free throws and pushing the lead to 57-50. If nothing else, Kawhi looked full on tired at this point. The pass was a poor decision, and there was no weight on it whatsoever. After the turnover, he turned to the ref before making a slow jog back. My confidence was starting to wane.
The Raptors turned things around with baskets from Serge and Kawhi. Kyle Lowry had a heroic sequence with back-to-back offensive rebounds (from the smallest player on the court!!), leading to a wide-open Kawhi 3. Lowry pushed the pace and scored a nice layup. VanVleet stole the ball from Simmons, pushed the break, saw Embiid in pursuit, and tried to finish. Erased by Embiid. Simmons gathered the rebound, but Lowry literally grabbed it out of his hands, and dished to Ibaka for the lay-up, finishing the play.
Raptors up 67 – 64 at the end of the quarter.
Fourth Quarter:
At the start of the fourth, Kawhi had already taken 30 shots.
Serge hit another 3, Butler answered. Kawhi hit a jumper, Butler answered. Embiid hit a 3 to put Philly ahead again. The game stayed heart-stoppingly close for a few minutes, with Redick tying it 85-85 on jumper and a freethrow. I stopped taking notes because I was pulling out my hair.
The Raptors played some incredible defence on the Sixers, denying any good shot attempts and forcing a 24-second violation at 2:51. On the next drive, the Sixers knew the clock was running down to zero, yet Butler was trapped near the sideline on the left wing. He dished to Harris, who, also guarded closely, tried to swing the ball to greener pastures, with Embiid at the top of the 3-point line. This was far too obvious a play, and Lowry darted from way off screen to make the steal, leading to a Siakam dunk. 4-point Raptors lead, one minute to go, Sixers timeout!
OH BUT THE GAME WAS NOT OVER YET.
Butler hit one of two free throws. Kawhi, missed 3-pointer. Embiid nailed both free throws – it’s a one point game. With 12 seconds left, the Raptors were up by 1. Kawhi was fouled. This almost perfect free throw shooter made one of two. With no timeouts left, the Sixers rebounded, and Butler raced up court, bumped Ibaka on his drive, and laid it in under Ibaka’s outstretched arm. TIE GAME, 90-90, FOUR SECONDS LEFT.
You might not have heard, but the Raptors ended up winning.
Stories of the game:
If you can’t shoot the ball well, just shoot it more
If you told me that in Game 7, the Raptors would shoot 38.2% from the field and 23.3% from 3, I would tell you I thought we traded DeMar DeRozan. Also, I would assume they lost.
With the Raptors shooters trying to rebuild the Red Keep with their bricks and Philadelphia shooting *not quite* as terribly (and taking an advantage in free throws), the Raptors still somehow pulled it out.
How? Twenty-four (24!) more shot attempts than Philadelphia. 11 more offensive rebounds, and fewer turnovers. Ibaka and Kawhi led the way with four O-rebs each, Kyle added two. Kawhi had three steals, Siakam and Kyle had two each. The Raptors’ D also forced two shot clock violations, including the crucial one with only 2:51 left in the fourth quarter.
Where was Kawhi’s help?
Before the game, I said that if even two other starters showed up, we’d be okay. Did they?
Gasol played great defence, consistently hedging the ball handler in the pick-and-roll but still hustling back in time to prevent the easy catch and drive from Embiid.
Siakam and Green generally held Butler and Harris in check.
Lowry had two huge offensive rebounds, and another pseudo-O-reb (mentioned above), where Embiid blocked VanVleet’s fast break lay-up, the ball bounced into Simmons’ hands, and Kyle immediately snatched it for a quick pass to a cutting Ibaka. He drew at least one charge, and he also added several nice assists.
But gently placing the round orange ball inside the basketball ring? Tough luck for the starters.
None of them scored more than 11 points. Kyle makes other plays, but he keeps missing shots. Gasol averaged 8.7 points for the series. Green had a whisper of a game, taking only three shots and only one 3-pointer. Siakam attacked the rim so tentatively, he looked more like an Archaeopteryx than a Raptor (sorry). Something to watch in Round 3, especially if the Raps want to Kawhi to stick around.
Band-aid Serge stops the bleeding
Back in Game 5, an inadvertent and unsympathetic elbow from Kawhi cracked Serge Ibaka across the head. Serge dropped to the court, holding his face. As the camera zoomed in, you could see blood pooling in his hands. Ibaka left, getting three stitches and returning to play, but he’s sported a massive band-aid across his forehead ever since.
Channelling his inner Cornell Haynes, a bandage-clad Ibaka had a badly needed Big Game. 17 points (6-10 FG, 3-5 3PM), 8 rebounds (four O-rebs), 3 assists, and a +22 rating across his 29 minutes.
And just think, if the Raps hadn’t traded for Serge they could be running pick-and-rolls for Anžejs Pasečņiks right now.
Minutes management
Shorten your bench, and run the starters. The Raptors went 7 deep. Philly did too, unless you count Greg Monroe’s 96 seconds on the court. Each of Philly’s starters played over 40 minutes (45 for Embiid, 42 for Simmons, 43 for Butler). Gasol played 45 minutes (Marc Gasol, when is the last time you played 45 minutes in a game??), Kawhi played 43, and Lowry played 39.
Again, this is analysis on the margins, but racking up big minutes over a seven game series could hurt the Raps in the next round.
Looking Forward: The Eastern Conference Finals
Will Kawhi contain Giannis?
Will the Raptors guards fare better against a smaller Bucks backcourt?
Will I fail the Bar exam in June because I can’t stop writing Raptors content?
All that AND MORE in my Eastern Conference Finals preview, forthcoming Wednesday.
curious winnipeg 