Sports

Is Kawhi Leonard’s Legacy Hurt After Game 7 Loss to Nuggets? – Sports Illustrated

Published

4 years ago

September 16, 2020

Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers are headed home after the Nuggets came back from being down 3–1 to advance to the Western Conference finals. While Leonard has won two NBA Finals MVPs—how badly will the loss to Denver impact his legacy going forward? The Crossover staff weighs in.

Chris Mannix

It’s a blemish, sure, but Kawhi is still a two-time Finals MVP, an NBA champion and one of the best playoff performers of this generation. Who this loss really stains is Paul George. If the series ended in Game 6—when George dropped 33 points while shooting above 40% from the floor and the three-point line—he would have been a hero. But after a 10-point, 4-of-16 from the floor, 2-of-11 from the three-point line, five-turnover clunker, George adds another page of playoff disappointment. He compounded things by bizarrely claiming that the Clippers didn’t look at this season as “championship or bust.” Huh? The Clips aren’t the 2010 Thunder. They aren’t a plucky upstart with years of predictable success in front of them. George and Leonard are in their primes. Montrezl Harrell is the Sixth Man of the Year. Doc Rivers is a championship coach. L.A. was plagued by problems during the restart, but this isn’t a team built to win for the next five years. Especially with a star (Leonard) with a shaky knee. The Clippers will be among the favorites next season. But years from now we could look back and say this year was L.A.’s best chance to win.

Michael Rosenberg

Nope, nope, nope.

Yes, Leonard shot 6-for-22 in Game 7. Well, Kobe Bryant once shot 6-for-24 in Game 7 (the 2010 Finals). Bryant’s team won that one, but in Game 6 of the 2008 Finals, with the Lakers down 3–2, Bryant shot 7-for-22 and his team lost by 39. Did that hurt Kobe’s legacy? Every great player has some duds. We forget them for everyone except, inexplicably, LeBron James, who gets reminded of them all the time. Leonard is a two-time NBA champion. He will always be (at least) a two-time NBA champion. Every time a star chooses a new franchise, there is pressure to win there to justify the move. Leonard and the Clippers were a disappointment this season, but it was a wild year, shaken by the pandemic, and it is only Year 1. When we talk about Kawhi Leonard in 20 years, this game will barely come up.

Jeremy Woo

I think it’s too soon to say much about legacy here. What’s going to matter more is how the Clippers respond next season, which will reflect on their best player and how he decides to move forward from this. Kawhi wasn’t the only one at fault for the collapse. L.A.’s chemistry was weird all season, and their defense was overrated. If the Clippers do this again next year and Kawhi decides to leave, then yeah, it’ll become a real talking point. But I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt and another year to get things in order. Keep in mind that the Clippers’ situation wasn’t like Kevin Durant’s walking onto the Warriors, or even Leonard’s joining the Raptors—situations where superstars joined cohesive, focused teams with previous playoff experience. But clearly, Leonard and George have a lot of work in front of them, and this failure is an opportunity for growth. I think we all overestimated the Clippers, which doesn’t excuse blowing the 3–1 lead, but also doesn’t make this just one person’s fault.

Melissa Rohlin

No, Leonard has proven himself after leading the Toronto Raptors to a title last season. This is more of a reflection of the Clippers. The curse is real. They’ve never advanced past the second round of the playoffs in their 50-year franchise history and then blew a 3-1 series lead when they finally had a great opportunity to do so.

Robin Lundberg

When you are in the kind of conversations Kawhi Leonard was, the standards are incredibly high, especially if you are going to be mentioned in the same breath as LeBron James. And for Kawhi, since he doesn’t have the same statistical profile as the true greats, much of his reputation was based on a winning mystique. A performance like Leonard had in Game 7 as the Clippers blew the series to the Nuggets while the Raptors team he voluntarily left had a spirited title defense in going just as far as he did does hurt a bit. However, even if some can retroactively nitpick the championships he did win or question him as the true leader of a squad, the guy is clearly still a great player, and what he did in Toronto was special. I don’t want to discredit that. There are levels to this.

Michael Shapiro

Winning a third title with a third team would have greatly enhanced Leonard’s legacy, but I don’t see his reputation taking a big hit after Tuesday’s embarrassing Game 7 loss. Leonard remains perhaps the top two-way force of his era, and his playoff mettle was proved in last year’s postseason. Leonard will have to hear the 3–1 jokes all offseason, and the Clippers’ title chances will be treated with an abundance of caution entering 2020–21. But looking long-term, Tuesday’s loss won’t impact our view of Leonard’s legacy. He’s a surefire Hall of Famer and one of the best players of the 21st century. We won’t be discussing 2020’s second-round exit when Leonard takes the podium in Springfield.

Ben Pickman

How can it not be? At least just a little bit. Leonard was so heroic in Toronto’s championship run last year and it felt as if it was only a matter of time that he was going to rescue the Clippers from their postseason lulls this time around. That time, however, never came and Leonard shot just 6-of-22 for 14 points in LA’s Game 7 loss. Now, Leonard and the Clippers are left with countless questions about what went wrong. And the aura of Leonard being an unstoppable postseason player has seemingly vanished. Leonard is still undeniably one of the best players in the league and one of the top postseason performers of his era. But Tuesday night showed that creating a blemish-less career resume is next to impossible. He will face a largely deserving wave of criticism for his most recent struggles. But at the same time, would it be entirely surprising to see Leonard the Clippers atone for their early exit next year? Absolutely not.

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Canada’s Marina Stakusic falls in Guadalajara Open quarterfinals

Published

4 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.

The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.

Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.

In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.

The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Kirk’s walk-off single in 11th inning lifts Blue Jays past Cardinals 4-3

Published

4 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.

With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.

Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.

Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.

Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.

He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.

The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.

Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.

He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.

George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.

Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.

In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.

St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

ON DECK

Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.

The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Stampeders return to Maier at QB eyeing chance to get on track against Alouettes

Published

5 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Anne Joseph

CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.

It won’t be an easy assignment.

Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.

“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”

Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”

Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.

After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.

“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”

Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.

“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.

A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.

“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”

But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.

“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”

Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”

“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.

Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.

“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”

While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.

“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”

The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.

“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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