Kawhi Leonard's 2014 NBA Finals MVP Award may feel like a fitting end to the brilliant breakout season he enjoyed with the San Antonio Spurs.But it's actually just the beginning.Leonard led the Spurs in scoring for the third straight game in the now completed Finals, guiding them to a 107-84 victory in Game 5 and securing the franchise's fifth championship. So in some literal sense, at least, Leonard's MVP trophy really did cap things off—both the 2013-14 campaign itself, and his own personal evolution into a bona fide franchise cornerstone.
He did it by embracing the challenge of guarding the best player in the known universe, doing his best to make LeBron James work for everything. James got his numbers, scoring at least 22 points and shooting at least 47 percent in all five Finals contests.
But Leonard was in James' space throughout the series, riding him into the lane, contesting step-back jumpers and adding whatever small degree of difficulty he could.He did it by saving the very best stretch of his career for a time when it was most necessary:
Kawhi Leonard has scored 20+ in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. He did it by, literally, making history:Only five players have been Finals MVP but not an All-Star. Kawhi would be the 6th. Chauncey Billups was the last in 2.The only NBA Finals MVP younger than Kawhi was Magic. The only NBA Finals MVP older than Duncan was Kareem.
Kawhi power rankings: 1) Leonard 2) [searching] [still searching]
And most importantly, he did it all with a quintessentially Spurs-ian modesty, displaying a practically allergic response to the spotlight:Kawhi Leonard, Finals MVP: "Right now, it's just surreal to me."Leonard's humility, as much as anything, is emblematic of why he's the perfect Spur. He doesn't say much, doesn't care about attention and operates within a system for the betterment of everyone else in that system. I'm not sure you could come up with more basic pillars of San Antonio's dominance than those.So, being the symbol of perfect Spurs-ness that he is, it was perfectly appropriate for the rest of San Antonio's selfless players—who fully appreciate the sacrifices required to play the way they do—to mob Leonard when NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced his name as the Finals MVP:So, what's next?
Well, a parade, for starters—probably one in which Leonard looks mostly uncomfortable and tries to say as little as possible.After that, the Spurs will have some interesting offseason checkpoints ahead of them, including Tim Duncan's opt-out clause, Tony Parker's little-known $3.5 million buyout option, per ShamSports.com, and the unrestricted free agency of Boris Diaw, Patty Mills and Matt Bonner.
In fact, when looking at all those things together, it becomes clear the Spurs built in a "kill switch" for the franchise, one they probably would have flipped if they'd fallen short in the Finals for the second season in a row.But now, thanks largely to Leonard, there's no reason to flip that switch. Everything we saw in five remarkable Finals games indicates this is a run that can continue, and Leonard's undisputed ability to carry a bigger load than anyone is the reason why.
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