Leonard shakes off rust before well-earned rest
Success with team-high minutes first step after lost season
It didn’t take long for Kawhi Leonard to endear himself to Raptors fans.
In the season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night, Leonard put up 24 points, 12 rebounds and three assists in a 116-104 victory, living up to high expectations in his hotly anticipated home debut.
The consensus: Even a rusty Leonard, who played just nine games with the San Antonio Spurs last season, can deliver something special.
On Friday night against the Boston Celtics, he jacked up his point total to a game-high 31 with 10 rebounds and three helpers in a113-101win. In an earlyseason clash between perhaps the two best teams in the Eastern Conference, chants of “M-V-P” had already begun at Scotiabank Arena.
Too soon? Even Leonard said so postgame — but he appreciated the support: “I understand the excitement and where we’re trying to get to this year, and what (the fans) expect.”
Part of meeting those expectations involves managing Leonard’s workload. Along those lines, the Raptors announced a few hours before tipoff that they would rest the 27-year-old Leonard
for Saturday night’s road date with the Washington Wizards — the second night of the schedule’s first back-toback.
Keeping Leonard healthy is a big part of Toronto’s championship aspirations. The 73 minutes he has already logged add up to more than a third of the time he spent on the floor all last season with the Spurs — who dealt him to the Raptors along with Danny Green for allstar DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl.
These games in a Raptors uniform were his first since last January, when a right quad injury ended his season. So while news of Saturday’s decision to rest Leonard didn’t sit well with some fans on social media, easing the star into a full workload should pay off in the long run. The Raptors have two more back-to-backs on the horizon — Oct. 29 and 30, plus Nov. 4 and 5 — out of 12 overall.
Head coach Nick Nurse seems eager to get Leonard up to speed quickly with teamhigh minutes against the Cavaliers (37:17) and Celtics (35:52).
“Just a bit,” Nurse said, when asked if 37 minutes was a lot for Leonard in Friday’s victory. “I got a little minute happy in the first quarter a little bit, probably.”
Green said his friend and longtime teammate is the kind of player who “wants to be on the floor at all times,” but added it will take time to reach peak performance after such a long layoff. That said, Leonard is beating the clock in Green’s estimation.
“He’s actually way ahead of my schedule … I didn’t expect him to be where he’s at, at this time, but hopefully by ChristmasJanuary time he’ll be his old self,” Green said.
Returning to “his old self” hasn’t seemed to interest Leonard, though. He’s aiming higher, now and for the future.
“Lungs feel good out there,” he said after Friday’s game. “What I’m trying to do is just get my legs under me, get used to playing these NBA games: getting hit, running up and down the floor, guarding these great players throughout the minutes that I am out there. “It’s still gonna take time.” As for what Leonard’s game will look like when he does shake off the rest of that rust, Green said to expect more of the same — only better.
“You guys have seen how efficient he’s been in the past on both ends of the floor: communicating better, getting more steals, switching, getting assertive more effectively, getting to his spots and finding guys, not turning it over because he doesn’t know where guys are at on the double team, getting to his spot and shooting more efficiently.”