A couple of weeks ago, former NBA big man Kendrick Perkins said that Toronto Raptors superstar Kawhi Leonard reminded him of Michael Jordan, and on Sunday night, you could swear Jordan was wearing Leonard's jersey.
During Game 7 of the Raptors' second-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers, Leonard poured in 41 points, with 15 of those coming in the fourth quarter. In addition, Leonard hit an insane buzzer-beater to lift Toronto to a 92-90 win and send the team to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2016.
Now, FOX Sports host Colin Cowherd is getting in on the Kawhi-to-MJ comparison, saying that Leonard does, in fact, have some similarities to the GOAT:
“We always talk LeBron and Michael, but Kawhi Leonard's got a lot of Michael Jordan,” said Cowherd on “The Herd.” “Between the hand size, improvisation in the air, his ability to play both ways, hit clutch shots and stone cold personality.”
Over the course of the series overall, Leonard averaged 34.7 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals over 39.7 minutes per game while shooting 53 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from 3-point range and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line. He also played lockdown defense, as evidenced by the fact that he held Jimmy Butler to 5-of-14 shooting in the series clincher.
To clarify, Cowherd is not saying that Leonard is as good as Jordan, but he is merely saying his style of play and his demeanor is similar to that of His Airness, and it's hard to argue with that assertion.
While Leonard does lack the trash-talking ability of Jordan, everything else seems to be spot on as far as his play style is concerned.
Now, he just needs to rack up the rings.
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