Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors are locked in a tight battle in the NBA Finals against the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors.
Leonard bounced back from a lost season and an ugly trade demand from his former team, the San Antonio Spurs, to be named to the All-NBA Second Team in his first year in Toronto.
Furthermore, Leonard has considerably upped his game throughout the NBA Playoffs, as he has provided a flurry of terrific performances, including his gutty game-winner against the Philadelphia 76ers in an iconic Game 7 as well as a strong showing in Game 1 of the Final against the Warriors.
However, much of this brilliant postseason run could not have been possible without the extreme care that the Toronto Raptors staff put into “load management” and allowing Kawhi to rest whenever he wanted to.
Though the decision to rest Kawhi frequently led to league-wide scoffs, NBA legend and 20-year veteran Vince Carter believes all that rest is what has allowed Leonard to showcase his skills on the league’s biggest stage in such a meaningful way. Carter spoke on NBA TV on Tuesday.
"He knows who he is and what he can do."@mrvincecarter15 talks about Kawhi's ability to push through pain/adversity and hopefully bring a championship to Toronto.#GameTime | #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/N3OaaXGvVf
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 5, 2019
As you can see, VC believes all that rest was the obvious right choice, and he went on to say that Kawhi’s mindset is: “‘I'm gonna come out, play hard, limit my mistakes and be the great superstar that I am.’”
Carter continued: “He [Leonard] just goes out there and doesn't worry about it. He values how important this is not only to himself, but to this franchise. This is an opportunity he's given this franchise and he's going for it.”
Leonard and the Raptors will “go for it” next on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. EST.
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