Toronto Raptors superstar Kawhi Leonard had himself a game on New Year's Day. The 27-year-old dropped a career-high 45 points on Tuesday as he led his team to a narrow victory against the Utah Jazz, 122-116.
Following the contest, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse had nothing but good things to say about his cornerstone stud, claiming that everyone in attendance were fortunate to have witnessed a performance for the ages from Leonard.
Article Continues Below“That's good, we all got to witness that live and in person,” Nurse said of Leonard's outburst, via ESPN. “He was phenomenal. I've kind of been waiting for one of these nights where he makes them all.”
Leonard went 16-of-22 (72.7 percent) from the field against the Jazz in an evening wherein he seemingly could not miss. Then again, he did go 0-of-3 from deep and 13-of-17 from the charity stripe, so Leonard could have actually surpassed the 50-point mark.
The Raptors were still missing the services of point guard Kyle Lowry who has been nursing a back injury for the past couple of weeks. Leonard carried the Raptors again on Tuesday, and he put on a show in the second half, scoring 30 of his 45 points in the final two quarters.
Leonard has certainly moved on from the tumultuous summer he had, and his arrival in Toronto has been as seamless as it could be. In his first 30 games in a Raptors uniform, the former Finals MVP is averaging a career-high 27.3 points (on 49.7 percent shooting), 1.7 three-pointers, 8.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.6 steals, 0.5 blocks, and 2.0 turnovers in 34.8 minutes of action.