Thursday 7 November 2019 11:29, UK
Kawhi Leonard's ability to create his own shot is on a par with Kobe Bryant, says Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown.
Leonard starred with 39 points as the Toronto Raptors levelled the Eastern Conference semi-finals series at 2-2 with a 101-96 victory in Philadelphia in Game 4 on Sunday night.
Leonard shot 13-of-20 from the field (including 5-of-7 from three-point range) and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Raptors recaptured home court advantage.
With the Raptors leading 91-90 with a minute remaining in the game, Leonard connected with a towering three-pointer over Joel Embiid with the shot clock running down to tilt the balance in his team's favour for good. Toronto then made 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
"There was about three seconds left on the [shot] clock. [Embiid] is long so I just tried to fade away and shoot over the top of him," said Leonard after the game. "Luckily it went down."
Sixers head coach Brett Brown reflected on Leonard's ability to create his own shot, regardless of defensive pressure. "He is punishing for sure. When it was a one-point game with little more than a minute left, with seconds left [on the shot clock], he hit that back-breaker three." Brown said.
"He does stuff that he can get off… and we had two people out there [defending him]. The stuff that he can do to create his own shot is Kobe-like. He is just so gifted in doing that.
"I think in our wins we've done a decent job [guarding] him. Might we look to double-team him a little bit more? Possibly. We did out best to show him a crowd, but at the end of the day, he's a hell of a player. [He scored] 39 points and we felt all of them."
Philadephia forward Jimmy Butler, who led his team with 29 points, echoed his coach's praise of Leonard.
"He's a really good player," Butler said. "He has been doing that for a long time now in the league. He has done that every game of this series. I don't know what else we can do."
Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry hailed his team-mate and felt the Raptors had done a better job of supporting their star player than in the earlier games of the series.
"Kawhi made some big shots. He has carried us offensively," Lowry said. "When he makes passes, we've got to make [the 76ers] pay. We passed up a lot of good shots in Game 2 and Game 3. Tonight, we didn't.
"It was a hard-fought game. It was a big win for us."
Game 5 takes place in Toronto in the early hours of Wednesday morning (1am).
