Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard had one of the most dominant playoff performances in the franchise's history Saturday, scoring a postseason career-high 45 points in the club's 108-95 Game 1 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.
But all of that was secondary to Leonard, who was only concerned about getting the win for his team.
"This individual stuff, it's not big for me," Leonard said, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "To reach these goals, it's great when you do it and you could win. But our focus is every game trying to win the ballgame. That's why we're playing this game. We're not playing so I could score 50 or get 40 points."
Leonard was locked in from the get-go. He scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the opening frame to tie a personal playoff scoring mark in one quarter. Overall, the California native finished 16-of-23 from the floor - including 3-of-7 from downtown - and 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. Leonard also added 11 boards, two assists, two steals, and was a plus-26, second only to Marc Gasol.
The 27-year-old became the sixth player in NBA history to have at least 45 points, 10 boards, and three triples in one playoff game, according to NBA.com/Stats.
Leonard joined Vince Carter as the only Raptor to eclipse 40 points in a postseason game and was five points shy of equaling Carter's record of 50. The latter also set his mark during a second-round matchup against the Sixers, back in 2001.
