Draymond Green and Fred VanVleet go back in time to discuss the Kawhi Leonard shot that altered NBA’s future.
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During the 2019 NBA playoffs, Kawhi Leonard’s turning Finals MVP mode on was as important as their 6’0 guard Fred VanVleet turning his beast mode on himself.
Fred averaged 14.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 6 games of the Finals. He also dropped a 22-point performance in Game 6. But his total average for the 24-games they played in playoffs was just 8/1.7/2.6. That’s how big he came up for the Raptors.
But they reached the Finals behind a shot that might just be the best and coldest shot of NBA history. The shot that might be more famous than the upset Raptors made by winning the Finals itself.
Recently the first time All-star joined The Draymond Green Show and came to discuss that shot which changed everything in the NBA for years to come. He had a close look at the shot standing just behind Kawhi as he sat on the bench, as he did not play his usual minutes in the game because of his bad form in the series.
“No, it looked off left. It looked off left. Because I’m looking at it, and you can see it go and look off, like it was going to go off to the left towards the middle of the lane. And once we saw it bounce, bounce twice, it was like, ‘Oh this shit is going in. It’s going in.’ … That was just the craziest amount of emotion.” said VanVleet.
Draymond Green believes they would’ve won the Finals if Kawhi’s shot didn’t come through
Game 7 of the 2019 Conference Finals altered many future outcomes, and it all started with a shot that the Terminator shot. Maybe he really came from the future just to do that.
When Joel Embiid and the Sixers were looking to take the game to OT with just over 4 seconds on the game clock, Kawhi Leonard shot his franchise’s biggest shot ever and won the game for the Raptors.
Had that not gone in, 76ers most probably would have won the game in OT as they had all the momentum. If they had made it to the Finals that year, Ben Simmons might still be a Sixer. And according to Draymond Green, the Dubs would be the champs if the Sixers came through instead of the Raptors.
“I’ve watched that shot over a million times and part due to, I feel like if that shot didn’t go in, we winning the NBA championship.” Green said.
If that happened Kevin Durant might still be a Warrior with who knows, a couple more championships? And the Brooklyn Nets wouldn’t have him or Ben Simmons.
So that’s why that shot didn’t just change the Raptors franchise forever, it truly reshaped the NBA as we see it today.
