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Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard has been terrific throughout these playoffs, but his shooting efficiency has dipped a bit of late, especially when being guarded by Draymond Green and Kevon Looney of the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.
The Raptors star shot a blistering 62.4% on 2s and 50% from deep in his first nine postseason games — good for a 66.2 effective field goal percentage, per Jason Kubatko of StatMuse.
However, in his last 11 games, he has shot a mortal 48.3% from 2 and only 28.1% from deep, a 46.6 effective field goal percentage (nearly down 20 percentage points).
This likely has to do with the strength of the opponent, which only gets more difficult as the rounds wear on, as well as the knee injury he has been playing through. However, the opposing defenders have also played a role.
Leonard is a mere 2-of-12 when guarded by Green or Looney in these first two games of the NBA Finals, but he has shot 50% (11-of-22) from the field against any other Warrior as the primary defender:
Kawhi Leonard's 2-for-12 in the series when guarded by Draymond Green or Kevon Looney. He's 50% against everyone else (11-for-22).
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) June 3, 2019
In total, the Warriors have limited Leonard to 38% shooting from the floor and 33% from deep, though he has lived at the foul line during these NBA Finals.
Leonard is a splendid 26-of-28 (92.9%) from the foul line in the first two games, recently setting the record for most free throws made without a miss, nailing all 16 of his shots at the charity stripe during Sunday's Game 2 loss.
Since the first nine games of the postseason, Leonard has only shot over 50% in one of the last 11 games, but shot 40% or less in only three of those contests — two of them have come against the Warriors' defense.
