Kawhi Leonard is a one-man wrecking ball right now. In Toronto's 116-95 Game 3 loss to the Sixers on Thursday, Leonard posted 33 points on 13-of-22 shooting including 2 of 4 from three. For the series he's averaging 36 points a game on 61-percent shooting. It is certainly understandable that a team's offensive production would dip when a guy like that goes to the bench, but what is happening to the Raptors in this series without Kawhi on the floor is something else entirely.
The Raptors offense has been abysmal sans Kawhi
Raptors Offensive Rating
Kawhi On Floor Kawhi Off Floor
Game 1 126.0 47.8
Game 2 101.2 35.7
Game 3 105.4 70.8
Series 110.7 54.1
— Micah Adams (@MicahAdams13) May 3, 2019
I couldn't get to NBA.com to double check these numbers fast enough. They're right. I know it's a small sample size, and with Kawhi playing almost 39 minutes a game, there's some context here. But it's not just Kawhi. All Toronto's starters possess head-scratching on-off differences, which is another way of saying: The Raptors' bench has been absolutely pathetic in the playoffs, and especially in this series. Literally, you sub even one starter out, Kawhi or otherwise, and the numbers fall off a cliff. Hell, when Danny Green comes out of the game the Raptors go from a 118.7 offensive rating to 57.6 vs. Philly. For the playoffs overall, Toronto has a 117.5 offensive rating with Kawhi on the court and a 71.7 rating with him off.
Fred Van Vleet. Normal Powell. Serge Ibaka. These guys just aren't getting it done. And to think, there was a time not that long ago that Toronto's depth was perhaps its greatest strength. If this series with Philly keeps going south and Toronto ends up bounced in the second round, a lot of people will look back at that Marc Gasol trade and wonder if it was the right move. Gasol has posed real problems for Joel Embiid in past matchups when he was with Memphis, and in Game 1 it looked like he was going to get the better of him in this series. Embiid put that to rest in Game 3.
Still, Gasol himself isn't the problem. He's been good overall. He opens a lot of things up for Toronto offensively -- well, at last he did before Game 3. The problem is what it cost to get Gasol. Jonas Valanciunas was playing pretty damn well when the Raptors shipped him out, and he wasn't alone. Delon Wright and CJ Miles were also lost in that deal, and man has this Toronto bench looked thin in this series without them. Remember when Van Vleet was looking like he was ready to run his own team? He had one point in Game 3. He was 0 for 7 from the field. He's shooting 21 percent from three in this series.
All told, the Raptors' bench is shooting 24 percent from three in the postseason. Against Philly, they're shooting 17.6 percent from three. They've shot 12 of 50 overall. It all adds up to the Raptors getting a grand total of 30 points from their bench through the first three games of this series. The Sixers, meanwhile, have gotten 73 points from their bench. That 43-point deficit, even with Leonard setting the Sixers on fire, is too much to overcome. Especially when outside of Pascal Siakam, Kawhi didn't get much help from the other starters either, particularly Kyle Lowry, who had seven points on 2-of-10 shooting for a team-worst minus-28 in Game 3.
Lowry on Kawhi: "We've gotta help him, myself especially. I've gotta help him, score more, gotta help him on the floor. We've all gotta help him. He's playing unbelievable right now, but we're not giving him any help. Me, I'm not giving him any help. Gotta help him."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) May 3, 2019
Lowry couldn't be any more right about this. The other Raptors just flat out have to be better, or this series is going to be over soon and the Kawhi era in Toronto will likely go right out the window with it. Game 4 is on Sunday.
