AussieSteve
11-07-2019, 04:36 AM
Revisiting the Raptors four wins in last year's finals, I can't help but think they might have won even without Kawhi.
Game 1 - Kawhi was third most impactful player on his team, with Siakam and Gasol clearly making a bigger impact. Went 5/14 from the field and was irrelevent in the 4th, making just one fg and 2/3 ft, which came from a technical foul and an intentional late game foul.
Game 3 - Kawhi put up good numbers (30/7/6/2/2), but had the lowest +/- of all Toronto starters. Siakam was +22, Kawhi +6, which means the small number of minutes that kawhi was on court without Siakam, they were -16! Also... no Klay this game so the win was a formality against a severely depleted team missing two of their three best players.
Game 4 - Kawhi had a great game and was the dominant player on the court. With the Raps up double digits for most of the game however, they may well have won regardless.
Game 6 - Kawhi was arguably the 4th best player on his team. Not just because he had three team mates who put up better numbers, but because these three team mates also came through in the clutch, while Kawhi was invisible. With 2 mins to go in the third, raptors down by 5, Klay goes out. Warriors decimated. Over the next 14 mins of game time, Kawhi made 1 free throw but was carried by great performances from Siakam, Lowry and VanVleet. In the last second, kawhi made a technical ft and 2 more irrelevant fts with the game done.
Kawhi was probably the best player on his team in only one of their four wins. And the third or fourth best palyer in a couple of them.
Why does his finals performance get amped so much? Especially when you consider how gutted the warriors were.
Why?
Game 1 - Kawhi was third most impactful player on his team, with Siakam and Gasol clearly making a bigger impact. Went 5/14 from the field and was irrelevent in the 4th, making just one fg and 2/3 ft, which came from a technical foul and an intentional late game foul.
Game 3 - Kawhi put up good numbers (30/7/6/2/2), but had the lowest +/- of all Toronto starters. Siakam was +22, Kawhi +6, which means the small number of minutes that kawhi was on court without Siakam, they were -16! Also... no Klay this game so the win was a formality against a severely depleted team missing two of their three best players.
Game 4 - Kawhi had a great game and was the dominant player on the court. With the Raps up double digits for most of the game however, they may well have won regardless.
Game 6 - Kawhi was arguably the 4th best player on his team. Not just because he had three team mates who put up better numbers, but because these three team mates also came through in the clutch, while Kawhi was invisible. With 2 mins to go in the third, raptors down by 5, Klay goes out. Warriors decimated. Over the next 14 mins of game time, Kawhi made 1 free throw but was carried by great performances from Siakam, Lowry and VanVleet. In the last second, kawhi made a technical ft and 2 more irrelevant fts with the game done.
Kawhi was probably the best player on his team in only one of their four wins. And the third or fourth best palyer in a couple of them.
Why does his finals performance get amped so much? Especially when you consider how gutted the warriors were.
Why?