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TORONTO — Kawhi Leonard went up and over Rudy Gobert. He spun around Donovan Mitchell. He blew past Joe Ingles. The Jazz threw just about everyone at Leonard, and the result was mostly the same: a Leonard bucket. And even if he didn’t score, he usually put on a move to at least get an open look.
The Jazz got an up-close look at the Kawhi Show on Tuesday in Toronto.
Leonard scored 19 of his career-high 45 points in the third quarter to help the Raptors gain a 122-116 win over Utah at Scotiabank Arena.
“He scored in the post, he scored in isolation, he scored going to the rim over Rudy,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “We eventually started hitting him once he got past half court. But the biggest thing is we put him on the line — what did he have? 17, 18 free throws? That’s a lot of free throws.”
Leonard did go to the line 17 times (making 13 of them), but he also hit 16-of-22 from the field, too. The refs gave him some soft whistles, but he didn’t need much help.
Leonard’s third quarter was so good that the Raptors turned a two-point halftime deficit into a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter, despite the Jazz (18-20) scoring 32 points in the quarter.
"When a guy gets going, it’s hard to stop them,” said Donovan Mitchell who finished with 19 points on 7-for-23 shooting.
The Raptors scored 44 points in the third quarter. That’s when they won the game.
Toronto started the second half on a 9-0 run that completely swung the momentum of the game over to the Raptors.
"Those nine quick points really changed the game,” Snyder said. "Gave them a big lift. They got to the rim and Kawhi in particular. They got to the rim and if we are going to foul, we got to make sure that we foul and they are not getting and-ones."
After giving up just five free throw attempts in the first half, the Jazz sent the Raptors to the line 30 times after halftime. Leonard alone shot 14 foul shots in the second half.
“He was just being aggressive,” Jae Crowder said. “He knew what was going on. He just got downhill and tried to get to the free throw line.”
While Utah’s offense was anything but stellar — shooting 43.3 percent and 28 percent from the 3-point line — it was its inability to stop Leonard and the Raptors that sunk their hopes of a road upset over the East’s top team. Pascal Siakam scored 28 points and Toronto shot 55 percent from the field. And yet, the Jazz were within four points with less than a minute remaining.
How?
They had a season-low four turnovers and they had a career night from Crowder. Crowder helped pull the Jazz within four points with back-to-back 3-pointers with about four minutes to go in the game. That gave him 30 points on the night — but he didn’t take another shot.
With around a minute remaining, Ricky Rubio went to the line with a chance to cut the Toronto lead to three points. But he missed the first before making the second. The Jazz then gave up two crucial offensive rebounds to the Raptors on the ensuing possession and those eventually led to two Raptor points, essentially ending the Jazz’s chance of the upset win.
Utah has now dropped five of its last six road games.
