‘I think it’s the same:’ Kawhi Leonard’s play again evokes Michael Jordan comparison from Doc Rivers

LOS ANGELES — Doc Rivers had his answer ready before the question was asked.

You got in trouble for comparing Kawhi Leonard to Michael Jordan on TV during the Finals. Now that you’re allowed to talk about Leonard, and have been coaching him for a few weeks, how do you feel about that comparison?

“I think it’s the same,” Rivers said. “If the media had been listening to what I had been saying, we were saying his body type is the most like Michael Jordan. That’s basically what I really said. …

“We were actually talking about body types. I was saying there’s no body type more like Michael Jordan’s than Kawhi. I actually said because of his hands and his length, and I did say part of his game — his in-between game. And that took a whole life.”

In an ESPN TV special ahead of the 2019 NBA Finals, Rivers said Leonard is the “most like Jordan that we’ve seen.” Four days later, the NBA fined the Clippers $50,000 for violating the league’s anti-tampering rule. Leonard went on to lead the Raptors to the 2019 championship, winning Finals MVP, before signing with the Clippers in July.

“Not that (Leonard) is Jordan or anything like that, but he’s the most like him,” Rivers said in late May. “Big hands, post game, can finish, great leaper, great defender, in-between game. If you beat him to the spot, he bumps you off. Then, you add his 3-point shooting.”

Rivers’ recollection isn’t verbatim — he joked in the presser that the media misrepresented his words in May, even though he was on TV and brought up the Jordan-Leonard comparison unprompted — but the greater point still stands. Leonard bears an eery resemblance to Jordan.

Leonard, seemingly validating Rivers’ comparison, channeled his inner MJ in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ 105-94 victory over the Jazz on Sunday night at Staples Center. The two-time Finals MVP scored 18 of his 30 points in the final 10:32 of the game.

“I guess that’s what he can do,” Rivers said of Leonard’s fourth-quarter heroics.

After the game, Leonard was asked about Rivers’ comments and the Jordan comparison. Leonard said he brushed off Rivers’ praise at the moment because he was getting ready for the Finals, but he believes the sentiment illustrates how much he’s improved his game over his nine-year NBA career.

“I remember it,” Leonard said. “I think it was before the summertime he said it. I think it was during my playoff run. Just one of my friends mentioned that to me that he said that.

“Initially, I just ran over it because I was in playoffs just locked in. But, you know, just to be able to get recognized for my talents and where I came a long way to where I am now and just showing my hard work is paying off.”

As Rivers said before the Finals, there are obvious physical attributes and stylistic similarities between Leonard and Jordan.

The deceptively strong physique (Leonard’s frame has grown in recent years and is no longer covert). The enormous hands, capable of palming the ball and faking out a defender from behind the 3-point arc or cupping the rock through the air for a reverse. The automatic mid-range jumper that both can get off against any defender. The shooting motion when creating separation in tight quarters. The historic perimeter defense.

“Yeah, for sure, he’s a guy I studied,” Leonard said. “He’s obviously one of the guys that everyone looks up to just from a competitive standpoint, how he approached every game. You just try to nitpick what you can take from him and bring it into yourself.”

Leonard has won championships, Finals MVPs, Defensive Player of the Year awards and made All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defense teams. But the one notable honor missing from his trophy mantle — one that Jordan has won five times — is a league MVP.

At least through six games, Leonard is making a strong push for the award, averaging 29.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.0 blocks in just 30.5 minutes (all five counting stats match or surpass his career-bests). Those numbers are in line with peak MVP seasons from Jordan and LeBron James (especially if Leonard was averaging three to four more minutes per game).

On Sunday, Leonard started off slow against the Jazz, similar to last week’s win over the Spurs, scoring 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting through three quarters. And, like the win over the Spurs, Leonard took over in the fourth — only this performance was even more remarkable.

First, Leonard hit a free-throw line jumper on the right side of the paint — a shot he had been missing earlier — to begin heating up. After that, he used a handoff from Montrezl Harrell as a screen, jumping behind him to make a 3-pointer. One minute later, Leonard connected on a 3 in transition. Multiple Leonard 3s had been short earlier, but he found his legs when he needed them.

Some 50 seconds later, Leonard drilled his most impressive make of the night, an 18-foot fadeaway pull-up jumper in Royce O’Neale’s grill. Then, a 10-foot pull-up in the center of the key out of a pick-and-roll with Harrell. Down the stretch of the game, Leonard found Lou Williams and JaMychal Green, respectively, for critical 3s that cemented the victory.

“He do what he do,” Patrick Beverley said. “They were loading up on him. He was making the right plays. And like any dominant player, the game was in the balance, it’s close, he did what he do: He took over the game. Got some easy buckets, got some tough buckets. Made plays with the pass, made plays with the pick-and-roll, made plays in iso. That’s what good players do.”

A part of Leonard’s game that has risen to a different level this season has been his career-best play-making. He isn’t quite James or Luka Doncic as a passer, but he’s learned how to sniff out a defense’s next rotation and dish creative passes that keep defenses guessing. He now routinely makes no-look/lookaway passes in the paint and slings one-handed curveballs to spot-up shooters.

SMOOTH FROM KAWHI! #CLIPPERNATION PIC.TWITTER.COM/RSDJBHWGKU

— NBA (@NBA) NOVEMBER 4, 2019

The key that unlocks Leonard’s passing game is his mid-range attack. With Leonard such a threat inside the arc, defenses have no choice but to collapse on him, doubling, if not triple-teaming him, and loading up the backside.

Leonard is averaging 1.33 points per possession (PPP) in isolation, which ranks in the 98th percentile, according to Synergy Sports. He is an elite isolation player. That includes Leonard averaging 1.18 PPP on drives, which lumps in pull-up jumpers. He’s shooting 46.7 percent on mid-range jumpers, a near-elite mark, especially when considering many of his attempts are contested and sometimes against multiple defenders.

At this point, Leonard’s teammates are accustomed to him taking over in crunch time when the fate of a game is uncertain.

“We were down by 10 in the third and I was on the bench and I was like, ‘We’re good, we got Kawhi,’” Zubac said. “That’s what he does. He gets you buckets when you need them.”

Jordan-Leonard comparisons are premature from a historical perspective. Leonard needs to win another championship or two before he enters the pantheon of the top-15 or so players. He’s closing in on that group — he’s already arguably a top-30 player ever — and there’s no reason to think he can’t enter the top-10 conversation by the end of his career, assuming health and longevity.

In the meantime, Leonard’s flair for taking over games and hitting clutch shots, as well as his sustained winning throughout his career, only drives the Jordan comparison. Rivers isn’t the first person to give Leonard that nod and he won’t be the last.

“With me, I think it’s just about taking advantage of the moment and not shying away, just keep going to your spots and shooting and keep being aggressive for the team and don’t shy away pretty much,” Leonard said. “That’s what I take my pride in. You’re not gonna make every shot that you shoot to win a game or every shot in the fourth quarter.

“So to me, it’s about keep being aggressive and keep having fun and see what happens with the results.”