San Antonio Spurs' versatile forward Kawhi Leonard is now on the NBA spotlight after being named as the Finals Most Valuable Player Sunday night succeeding his team victory over Miami Heat at the AT&T Center.
Leonard with 22 points and 10 rebounds led the rest of the playoffs for Spurs claiming its fifth Championship title and avenging last year's seven-game series loss in the finals.
Leonard showed breakthrough on the third game of the series going-off for an incredible 29-point performance. His stellar performance continued in the next two games which led him to take away the Bill Russel Award as the Finals MVP.
Despite being relatively quiet in the first two games of the series, Leonard, with his assertive offensive drives, registered these impressive numbers:
NBA Official: "Kawhi Leonard (17.8 PPG (61.2% FG), 6.4 RPG, 1.6 SPG) is the 2014 #NBAFinals MVP"
The 22-year-old versatile forward is the third youngest NBA Finals MVP after DUncan and Magic Johnson. Basketballinsiders.com Alex Kennedy on his Twitter account also provided historical context for Leonard's extraordinary achievement.
Alex Kennedy: Kawhi Leonard is the third-youngest Finals MVP in NBA history, behind only Tim Duncan and Magic Johnson.
Greg Popovich, San Antonio coach and considered among the best in the business once quoted that Leonard will be going to be a star player. His quote about Leonard from September 2012 at the Sportingnews.com seems to be coming true.
Greg Popovich on Sportingnews.com: "I think he's going to be a star. And as time goes on, he'll be the face of the Spurs, I think. At both ends of the court, he is really a special player. And what makes me be so confident about him is that he wants it so badly. He wants to be a good player, I mean a great player. He comes early, he stays late, and he's coachable, he's just like a sponge. When you consider he's only had (two years) of college and no training camp yet, you can see that he's going to be something else."
Expectations are now pressed to Spurs and its newest star player for the beginning of another special era.
