Kawhi Leonard Continues His Playoff Dominance While James Harden is in Playoff Slump

By Djack

Rocket-Spurs has been a unique series, game one the Rockets show up, the Spurs don't, and the Rockets blow out the Spurs by 25. Last night in game 2 the same thing happened, except it was the other way around with the Spurs winning by 25+. This leaves us with no inclination of how the rest of the series is going to go since we are yet to have a game in which both teams show up. We have gotten to see the superstars show up, well, at least one superstar has shown up. The other superstar has been struggling since game 4 of the first round and it has carried over into this series. If you haven't caught on yet, I'm talking about Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. While Kawhi Leonard is leading his team to victory by playing to a level I truly have never seen before, his counterpart is relying on his teammates to carry the load while he figures out his offensive game. In a superstar driven league the team with the best player typically wins the series, so if things continue to go the way they have for the two of these players this postseason, it'll be Kawhi Leonard leading the Spurs to the conference finals.

Kawhi Leonard, had maybe the best game I've ever seen from a professional basketball player in my life. A performance like this shows you that the box score means next to nothing because a lot of his greatness in the game didn't show up on the box score, however it did show up on the scoreboard. Kawhi gets it done on both ends of the floor at an extremely high level, not many players can say that in today's NBA. When Kawhi was the primary defender last night he allowed a total of 3 points. Absurd, no one shuts down NBA players like that,unless of course you're Kawhi Leonard. On the offensive end he was nearly perfect. He shot 81% from the field on 13-16 shooting, so it's not like he wasn't taking a good amount of shots. He put up 34 points, added 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks, and 1 steal to his stat line. When Kawhi Leonard created shots for his teammates in the first half they shot 80% from the floor, he's not a point forward and he's still creating shots for his teammates. The Spurs won solely because of Kawhi Leonard last night. The way he efficiently dominated the Rockets defense and helped his teammates get involved, along with his outstanding effort on the defensive end, proves just how important Kawhi Leonard is to the success of the Spurs.

​James Harden, he fooled me once again, and now I'll never be a believer in his game. Yes, James Harden put up MVP type numbers once again this season, but once again he has gone MIA in the postseason. Besides for the first three games against Oklahoma City this postseason, Harden has been absolutely atrocious. In his last 4 games he has shot 30% from the field and 18% from 3-point range, actually embarrassing percentages for someone being considered for MVP. In the most important games of the year he has decided to curl up into his shell and hide. Last night, he was 3-17 from the field for 17 points, as Kawhi humiliated Harden and his team on the offensive end. I'd be embarrassed if I were Harden, during the time his team needs him most he cowards away from the moment. What can you expect though, he's always been like this, even back in his OKC days, 2012 NBA Finals he did the same shit. If Harden continues to be a complete non-factor hurting his team more than he is helping, then the Spurs are going to make this a quick series. If Harden can get anything going at all, then the Rockets should win since they're clearly the better overall team.