'I sensed that he wasn’t throwing it in all-out gear a lot during the regular season but he would still go out there and get 30 pretty easily.' Nick Nurse knows Kawhi finding another level for the playoffs changes what the Raptors are capable of:
When Nurse heard of Leonard’s “these are just practices” comments it fired up the Toronto bench boss, who noticed a difference in his star small forward’s tempo in the opening round.
“To me, he did that more on the defensive end [against the Magic],” Nurse said. “He became this defensive guy and I think I found out, or he found out, or we all found out that it translated to him moving a little faster at the offensive end too and playing with more force, so that’s good.” Leonard averaged 27.8 points against the Magic – a 16-point outing in a Game 3 win when he was sick brought that average down – but more importantly was also a force when the ball wasn’t in his hands.Your browser does not support the“It’s such a contagious thing,” Nurse added. “It’s like what I always talk about with Kyle [Lowry]. Kyle’s out there playing so hard and making all these plays and knocking big guys around and diving on the floor and all of a sudden another guy starts doing it.
The Raptors begin their second-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. Leonard averaged 30.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in three games against Philly this season and Toronto won the season series 3-1.
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