It was not exactly a warm welcome for Los Angeles Clippers reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard in his homecoming to his former stomping ground. The San Antonio Spurs were hosting Leonard and his Clippers on Saturday, and for their part, the home fans had a field day jeering their former superstar all night long.
Following the game, Leonard shared his thoughts on the hostility, claiming that it did not bother him one bit.
“The boos is just love,” Kawhi Leonard said, USA Today's Mark Medina. “Just taking it as that, I’m here for a reason, to win a ball game. It only can make me better and make our team better with the crowd not being on our side.”
True enough, Kawhi did not appear to be affected by the boos at all, with the two-time NBA champ torching his former team, en route to a game-high 26 points (on 11-of-16 shooting), one 3-pointer, seven rebounds, nine assists, and four steals in just 27 minutes of action. More importantly, Leonard and company made easy work of the Spurs, emerging with a lopsided 134-109 victory.
Leonard then opened up about his rather unsavory exit from the Spurs last year. The three-time All-Star seems to imply that there's much more to the narrative that meets the eye, and that he is not the villain he is drawn up by the media to be.
“It’s a part of the game. It’s the type of player I am, just the way I probably left and how it was portrayed,” Leonard said. “I don’t make no sense of it. I know it’s a game and it’s competitive. When we’re not playing or if I’m walking on the street and I see somebody from San Antonio, they thank me for everything I did. They respect the way I played when I was here.”
Kawhi has been outstanding for the Clippers all season long, with the 28-year-old currently averaging 25.5 points (on 46.1 percent shooting), 7.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.6 blocks, while also connecting on 1.7 3-pointers per ballgame on a 36.1-percent clip.
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