OAKLAND, CALIF.—Some people speak of him in whispers, as if telling tales of a legend. Some just laugh. It’s spooky, says one Toronto assistant, with reverence. He’s special, says a different staffer, the word freighted with feeling. After Game 4 in Philadelphia, when Kawhi hit a test version of The Shot in Game 7, a Sixers executive asked, a little unsure, “He can’t keep doing this, can he?” Toronto was falling through the air that night in Philly, and Kawhi lifted them back up.He is still lifting them up, as high as they can go. The Toronto Raptors are on the verge of a championship, and if they win Monday the city and country will erupt. The Golden State Warriors are champions, limping or not, so it is no formality. Toronto leads the series three games to one. They could have had the one, too, but Kawhi, for once, missed a loose ball.The series isn’t over. But we should pause to appreciate just what we are witnessing here. Toronto has had all kinds of sports moments in the last 50 years, few of them good, a couple of them truly great. This is a legend. “Lucky,” said Raptors shooting guard Danny Green, on how he feels about playing with Kawhi both here, and in San Antonio before. “I’m very blessed to be able to be beside him for most of his whole career, to be along for the ride.”Canada, too. At his best, Kawhi decides. In a league that tries to speed you up or slow you down, he exists so often in his own time, creating his own space. Defensively, he simply eats anyone they ask him to. Offensively, Kawhi is averaging 30.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks in the Finals.After Game 4, in which Kawhi took the Warriors apart, there are two players who have had at least 35 points and no turnovers in a road Finals game: Michael Jordan, Kawhi’s childhood basketball hero, and Kawhi. Read more:Kawhi Leonard before the Raptors: a dedicated, introverted teen who R ...
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