Canada Sports News

The city of Toronto welcomed back its favorite guy and the player who led them to the first NBA title in history – Kawhi Leonard. The entire night at the Scotiabank Arena contained nothing but love. And although the Raptors lost 112-92, with Kawhi’s leading his Clippers, that love was mutual.

The reigning NBA Finals MVP received his title ring before the game. It was handed to him by Kyle Lowry, and the entire tribute to Leonard was simply fantastic. Doc Rivers couldn’t hide his delight over this gesture.

“I thought what the Raptors did overall – the video, the players coming out, all of them who played with him…That’s the best that I’ve seen since I’ve been in the league,” he said.

But when the game started, Leonard quickly forgot about all the nice memories he has from this city, and led his Clippers to their 19th win of the season, first one here in Canada.

Kawhi posted 23 points in 32 minutes, adding 6 assists and 5 boards, while shooting 8 for 14 from the field, and hitting all of his five free throws. As always, his comments and statements were simple but very precise.

“Still love the city. … they did a great job last year embracing me, embracing the team.”

The teams were leveled throughout the opening quarter and until the midway of the second. It was then when the guests began to squeeze the Raptors and to make a notable lead. Eventually, the Clippers had a 64-46 lead at the halftime.

Toronto was bad offensively throughout the entire match, but in particular, in the second period, once they made just 5 shots in 22 attempts, scoring 14 points.

“It looked liked it was going to be a helluva ball game and we went through a really dry spell offensively that deflated us,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.

Lou Williams scored 13 of his 18 points in that sequence alone, and was the vital piece of the Clippers’ offense.

Toronto tried to come back, and they even cut the deficit to just five points during the middle of the third, but they couldn’t do more than that. The guests shifted into a higher gear, started playing stronger defense, not allowing the basket for the last 3:43 of the period. On the other side, they’ve posted 12 points.

Williams had 8 assists and 6 rebounds beside his 18 points. Mo Harkless scored 14 with 7 rebounds, while Paul George had a bad night with 13 buckets while shooting 3 for 14, and 2 for 12 from downtown.

Pat Beverly had 11 before he went out in the third due to a concussion after colliding with Marc Gasol.

Among the Raptors, Pascal Siakam had 24 points, while Norman Powell finished the game with 22. OG Anunoby had 13. Kyle Lowry continued his shooting slump, scoring 6 points, and hitting just one of his eight attempts from the field. He missed all seven threes.

Up next the Raptors play against the Brooklyn Nets at home on Saturday, before hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers two days later.

The Clippers head towards Minneapolis, to face the Timberwolves on Friday night.