On Saturday night, Kawhi Leonard was not at all interested in setting himself his playoff career-high stats against the team’s game against Philadelphia 76ers.
Leonard still led the Toronto Raptors with his playoffs career-high score of 45 points along with 11 rebounds while Pascal Siakam scored 29 points to let the Raptors beat Sixers by 108-95 in the game 1 of the second round series of the playoffs.
Leonard previously had his postseason career high of 45 points scored in teal’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies back on April 22nd, 2017. He matched his previous record by making a pair of free throws with 5 minutes to the clock and then scoring a dump shot on team’s next possession.
Leonard said, “At that time, I was basically trying to get out of the game. We were up by 20 points with what was likely five minutes to the clock and I was already looking at the bench. I was looking at them to try to get me out of the game.”
Nick Nurse, Raptors coach said, “it was fun to watch Leonard play. He displayed big-time performance on both ends. I just like his force with which he is playing at both ends.”
Brett Brown, 76ers coach said of Leonard that he is leaps and bounds ahead of the player he trained while he was an assistant at the San Antonio Spurs.
After Leonard checked out of the game with 3 minutes to the game, he received a standing ovation with Raptors being 107-88 ahead in the game. He is the 2nd player in the Toronto Raptors history to have made above 40 points in a playoff game.
The other player who reached the milestone was Vince Carter who scored his 50 points in Raptors game against Philadelphia back on May 11th, 2001 for the Game 3 of the second round playoff series.
Game 2 will be played on Monday in Toronto.
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