Kawhi > LeBron

[Quake Griffin]

Day 58 of Corona and Chill.

ZZZZZZzzzz

[esqtvd]

can Bron do this

Read on Twitter

[Young Sterling]

"Austin Rivers> Avery Bradley > Ty Lue > Kawhi > Lebron > Paul George how dare you break my girl's heart!" - Doc Rivers

[esqtvd]

some Kawhi porn to help fill the days

incredible offensive numbers from one of the best defensive players in the game

https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/story/2020-03-30/kawhi-leonard-historic-clippers-season


By ANDREW GREIF
MARCH 30, 2020



The performance was remarkable for its efficiency. So was the speed with which it was overshadowed.

In fewer than 26 minutes on March 10, Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points, making 64% of his shots and 40% of his three-pointers, with five assists and four rebounds, in a runaway road victory against Golden State. Leonard also did not commit a turnover. Yet staged against the backdrop of the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Bay Area, the night was quickly forgotten. Within 24 hours, the NBA season was suspended.

No one knows what comes next for the NBA — whether it will restart at all or, if so, in what form. Whether or not Leonard’s performance against the Warriors will be his last this season, it was the latest in a year that saw him average a career-high 26.9 points and 5.0 assists, 7.3 rebounds, which ties his career-best, and 1.8 steals and put him on pace for one of the most memorable, and one of the top statistical, individual seasons in Clippers history.

...


A stat line of 26-7-5, plus at least 1 ½ steals, has been done only 15 times by five players. Leonard and Westbrook were set to crack that group, as well.

...

Leonard was on pace to nearly double his career average of 2.7 assists per game and make him only the fifth Clipper 6-foot-6 or taller to average at least 5.0 assists in a season. His improvement as a playmaker reflected a shift in his style of play to meet his new team’s needs.

Without a true starting point guard — only in late February did they add a primary ballhandler to their bench with the signing of Reggie Jackson — the Clippers put the ball in Leonard’s hands more than ever. He had possession nearly 33% of the time the Clippers had the ball, the league’s ninth-highest usage rate, and 63% of his made field goals were unassisted, the highest percentage of his career excluding his injury-shortened nine-game season in 2017-18.

The volume did little to water down Leonard’s efficiency. Among the eight players ahead of Leonard in usage rate, only Doncic has a higher offensive rating. Leonard’s scoring average was on pace to be the highest by a Clipper since World B. Free in 1980. Against Cleveland on Jan. 14, he became the only Clipper to score at least 40 points in fewer than 30 minutes.

...

For all of Leonard’s regular-season production, it was supposed to be just the warmup for the playoffs. Leonard, indeed, appeared to find a rhythm in more recent games that wasn’t there in the season’s early weeks, as he increased his workload after leg injuries kept him from training as usual in the offseason. His offensive rating of 118.6 points per 100 possessions since Jan. 1 was nearly six points higher than in October, November and December.

“I’m feeling better,” he said Jan. 10 after scoring 36 points against Golden State in Los Angeles. “I’m able to jump without it grabbing me too much. Hopefully I just keep going uphill from here.”

He did. That night began a nine-game streak in which he scored at least 30 points, the second-longest such streak in franchise history. During that stretch he averaged 34.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.2 steals and shot 51% overall and 39.7% on three-pointers.

...


In February, coach Doc Rivers felt Leonard was healthy enough to have him guard opponents’ best offensive player more often. In March, Leonard cut his season-average turnover ratio nearly in half.

It was all leading to the postseason’s start in April, when the Clippers hoped to advance to the franchise’s first conference finals and beyond. Instead, it’s led to a waiting game to see whether Leonard, and the Clippers, will get their chance to author a truly memorable season...

[Young Sterling]

Watch on YouTube

Hey guys, I saw this video on Youtube (I added music/slight editing to it) and it just hilariously sums up Kawhi's dominance over Lebron. Feel free to post it all over social media, twitter, or when replying to some dudes who think Kawhi is a chump. Enjoy Clippernation!

[wco81]

You know what makes Kawhi so valuable in the playoffs?

He gets to push off with impunity or he initiates contact by dipping his shoulder into the defender and get put on the line over and over again.

Him and Harden, they snowed the NBA officials.

They're great and skilled enough as it is, but they get officiated the most favorably in the NBA right now.

[nickhx2]

that must be it

[lautreamont]

You know what makes Kawhi so valuable in the playoffs?

He gets to push off with impunity or he initiates contact by dipping his shoulder into the defender and get put on the line over and over again.

Him and Harden, they snowed the NBA officials.

They're great and skilled enough as it is, but they get officiated the most favorably in the NBA right now.

The shoulder bump is almost never called on anyone, but KL does at times push off with the arm to shed defenders and it's never called when it should be. He has also been flopping more lately as well. As strong as he is a little bump sometimes sends him flying. He's been learning how to work the refs, no doubt about it.

[NippySudz]

You know what makes Kawhi so valuable in the playoffs?

He gets to push off with impunity or he initiates contact by dipping his shoulder into the defender and get put on the line over and over again.

Him and Harden, they snowed the NBA officials.

They're great and skilled enough as it is, but they get officiated the most favorably in the NBA right now.

The shoulder bump is almost never called on anyone, but KL does at times push off with the arm to shed defenders and it's never called when it should be. He has also been flopping more lately as well. As strong as he is a little bump sometimes sends him flying. He's been learning how to work the refs, no doubt about it.

You can push off as log its not extended. Its a legal move.

[lautreamont]

You know what makes Kawhi so valuable in the playoffs?

He gets to push off with impunity or he initiates contact by dipping his shoulder into the defender and get put on the line over and over again.

Him and Harden, they snowed the NBA officials.

They're great and skilled enough as it is, but they get officiated the most favorably in the NBA right now.

The shoulder bump is almost never called on anyone, but KL does at times push off with the arm to shed defenders and it's never called when it should be. He has also been flopping more lately as well. As strong as he is a little bump sometimes sends him flying. He's been learning how to work the refs, no doubt about it.

You can push off as log its not extended. Its a legal move.

Please locate the rule in the NBA rule book that a push off is allowed when it sends the defender flying backwards as long as it's not extended.

[wco81]

Lebron seemed to have no ideas in game 1 vs. Houston, especially in the fourth quarter.

He tried a pull up and maybe one step back 3?

Instead of trying to get into the lane, go downhill and try to get higher percentage shot or draw fouls like Kawhi does, which includes pushing off most of the time or making contact and bringing up the arms to draw fouls that way.

Several people were saying Kawhi screwed the Lakers, who waited to try to sign him and now they have no guards.

If he signed with Lakers, LBJ and AD would be playing second fiddle in crunch time, as Kawhi went foul hunting.

[lautreamont]

Lebron seemed to have no ideas in game 1 vs. Houston....

LeBron apparently figured things out in games 2 through 5.

[NippySudz]

Lebron seemed to have no ideas in game 1 vs. Houston....

LeBron apparently figured things out in games 2 through 5.

LeBron told vogel thereis no spacing. His starter and 6man sat the entire series.

Meanwhile, Doc seems trez has been horrible this playoffs and still sends him out there to play basketball. No adjustments.

Kawhi is a private person but I hope he's screaming at doc to bench trezz for game 7 and doc better **** listen if he is.

[wco81]

Lakers role players really stepped up after the first game loss to Houston.

A lot of it due to Lebron finding them for good looks.

When Kawhi is going one on one, the other players stand around and watch. It's no secret that he emulates Kobe's approach and ball-dominant game.

Kobe could score a lot of points but he wouldn't have rings without playing with Shaq and then Gasol. But those years were before the dominance of wings today.

For the most part, Kawhi doesn't get double-teamed. The Nuggets did swarm to him in game 2 and contested all his shot attempts at the basket, resulting in blocks and him shooting a low percentage for that game.

I don't know that Kawhi has to be the one to try to create shots for other players. But you need some kind of playmaking and you really don't have that except Lou setting up pick and roll easy shots for Harrell.

Clippers move the ball well enough when needed to get good looks but if the other players have been watching Kawhi go to work for half the game, maybe they're not ready to take big shots in the fourth quarter.

[Captain Ballmer]

Lakers role players really stepped up after the first game loss to Houston.

A lot of it due to Lebron finding them for good looks.

When Kawhi is going one on one, the other players stand around and watch. It's no secret that he emulates Kobe's approach and ball-dominant game.

Kobe could score a lot of points but he wouldn't have rings without playing with Shaq and then Gasol. But those years were before the dominance of wings today.

For the most part, Kawhi doesn't get double-teamed. The Nuggets did swarm to him in game 2 and contested all his shot attempts at the basket, resulting in blocks and him shooting a low percentage for that game.

I don't know that Kawhi has to be the one to try to create shots for other players. But you need some kind of playmaking and you really don't have that except Lou setting up pick and roll easy shots for Harrell.

Clippers move the ball well enough when needed to get good looks but if the other players have been watching Kawhi go to work for half the game, maybe they're not ready to take big shots in the fourth quarter.

That Bold line is something to be addressed this offseason regardless of the season outcome. Look at Miami Heat, Spoelstra took Dragic out of the bench and made him starter in spite of their lack of playmaking abilities on the playoff level. It did wonders for Bam, Butler, Herro, Crowder etc. There is good a reason why our role players sucks while Miami's excels.

[Kelphus]

For academy award voter consideration

https://youtu.be/IEofHj27I3s

Watch on YouTube

[MartinToVaught]

LeBron flops, sure, but at least he closes out series when he's up 3-1. I wish our team could ever do that.

[-jj-]

Delete this thread.

[NippySudz]

Delete this thread.

Correct. The best player is still Lebron.

[MartinRiggs]

6/22 shooting in the most important game?

Even with the flu he should do it better...