Kawhi Leonard has the Raptors on the brink of their first championship in franchise history.
Toronto took down Golden State 105-92 in Game 4 on Friday to go up 3-1 in the series against the two-time defending champions.
This one was all about Kawhi Leonard.
In the early going nobody on the Raptors team could buy a shot — that is save for Leonard.
The 2014 Finals MVP shot 5 for 8 in the first quarter while the rest of his team was 1 for 13. He finished the half with 13 points and the Raptors were in striking distance just four points back of the Warriors.
Kawhi in the 1st quarter: 5-8 FG for 14 pts
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 8, 2019
All other Raptors combined: 1-13 FG for 3 pts pic.twitter.com/sDt7SF2dLC
Then Leonard really turned it on. He dropped 17 third-quarter points as part of a 37-21 frame for Toronto which gave the Raptors a lead that was simply insurmountable for the Warriors.
Leonard finished with 36 points on 11-of-22 shooting with 12 rebounds and two assists.
This was Leonard's 14th 30-point game of the 2019 playoffs. He has scored more than 20 points in all but two of the Raptors' playoff games.
Now the Warriors will try as hard as they can to come back from 3-1 in the series, something they haven't had to even try to do since the 2014-15 Western Conference finals.
Golden State won that series in seven games of the Thunder and went on to lose in the NBA Finals to the Cavaliers in seven games.