Leonard turns up the show on 76ers
RaPTORS 113, 76’ERS 102
Maybe it was the national spotlight. Or maybe it was just the point he has reached in his level of comfort within the Toronto offence.
Either way Kawhi Leonard was in full showboat mode Wednesday as he put the Raptors on his back and took them to a 113-102 win over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Leonard was in a zone most of the night hitting a season best five-of-six from behind the arc and 13 of 24 from the field for 36 points. The Raptors needed every one of those points too against Jimmy Butler, a Raptor-killer of past NBA seasons when he was in a Bulls uniform. He had 38 points.
The difference in this one was among the bigs on the floor, a battle the Raptors won by a large margin despite some early foul trouble for Jonas Valanciunas.
Starting centre Serge Ibaka had another one of those nights that left you wondering what exactly he did in the off-season to improve because not only did he lock Joel Embiid up at one end of the floor, he was filling the basket at the other with 18 points.
Valanciunas who played just three minutes in the first half, rallied in the second and wound up finishing the game because he had been so good, ending with 26 points and eight rebounds in just 18 minutes.
Even Greg Monroe got his turn to shine with six first half minutes with JV in foul trouble in which he frustrated Embiid at both ends of the court.
The Raptors won the battle of the boards by a 53-49 count and had a 22-17 edge in second chance points.
Like Embiid, who struggled to score, Ben Simmons was held in check too with just 10 points. JJ Redick wound up with 25, the only Sixer not named Butler to give the Raptors any stress at all.
With the win Toronto improved its NBA-best mark to 21-5 while the 76ers’ four-game win streak was halted. They fell to 17-9.
GREEN WORTH A LOT
Danny Green has been in a Raptors’ uniform long enough now that his value should be well known within the fan base.
76ers coach Brett Brown, a former assistant on those San Antonio Spurs teams for a couple of seasons that included Leonard and Green, knows exactly how important Green is on and off the court.
“I think Danny is a security blanket for Kawhi,” Brown said before the game. “It’s a comfort level. It’s a friend. It’s somebody that has shared a lot of high-level experiences with Kawhi. Championship-level experiences. I would assume, and this is just my guess, that Kawhi would feel like he is not on an island. He has a friend with him who is a hell of a player, defensively oriented like Kawhi is, and I’m guessing it would be a peace of mind type thing that Kawhi would have with Danny.”