Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard escapes the Orlando defense in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference series. | AP photo
ORLANDO, Florida — Kawhi Leonard missed the NBA playoffs last season, in multiple ways.
He wasn’t playing the games.
He wasn’t feeling the games, either.
That’s not a problem this season for the 2014 NBA Finals MVP. Healthy and happy, Leonard has the Toronto Raptors one win away from the second round. He scored 34 points and the Raptors beat the Orlando Magic 107-85 on Sunday night to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
“You just want to be out there on the floor, with your teammates and just feel that team spirit and chemistry, just trying to focus on one goal,” said Leonard, who was out for almost all of last season, his last with San Antonio before an offseason trade to Toronto. “That’s something I was missing, just being out, sitting out. That’s why it’s a blessing this year just to be able to play and be on the floor, regardless of what the outcome is.”
Pascal Siakam and Norman Powell each scored 16 for the Raptors, who can advance with a home win in Game 5 on Tuesday. Toronto has now won three consecutive postseason games, only the third time that’s happened in franchise history.
Aaron Gordon scored 25 for the Magic, making his first seven shots of the second half. Evan Fournier scored 19 and Nikola Vucevic added 11 for the Magic, who committed 17 turnovers that became 21 Toronto points.
“We’re better than what we’ve shown,” Gordon said.
And now the Magic’s season is squarely on the brink. There have been 11 teams to successfully rally from a 3-1 series deficit in a best-of-seven NBA series, and of those, only three pulled it off by winning a Game 7 on the road.
So it’s not impossible — just highly improbable.
“Our guys have fought hard all year,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said.
He liked the fight on Sunday, too.
Leonard just always had the better counterpunch.
He made 12 of 20 shots, added six rebounds and scored his 34 points in 35 minutes. He was in total control on both ends, and the Raptors shot 53 percent — a franchise record for a road playoff game. Serge Ibaka scored 13 and Kyle Lowry had nine assists for the Raptors.
“Road wins are the best, especially in the playoffs,” Leonard said. “And obviously, we all know the job isn’t done yet.”
A flurry at the end of the first half, led by Leonard and Siakam, put Toronto up by double digits and the margin stayed there the rest of the way.
Vucevic missed from close range — the Magic argued that Leonard was guilty of goaltending, the referees disagreed — with about 2:45 left in the half, a disputed play that could have gotten Orlando within seven.
Instead, the Magic went into the break down by 16.
Toronto closed the half on an 11-1 run, with Leonard scoring the first five and Siakam hitting a pair of 3s for the final six. The last of those 3s by Siakam came with 4.5 seconds left, and the Raptors headed into intermission with a 58-42 cushion.
“These series, and the games in the series, are a lot about imposing your will on a team,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
Whenever Orlando flashed some hope in the third quarter, Leonard immediately snuffed it out.
A dunk by Gordon cut the lead to 13? Leonard made a 3.
A 3-pointer by Fournier to get within 12? Leonard made a pullup.
A stepback by Gordon to get within 12 again? Leonard split defenders, absorbed contact and laid the ball in to start a three-point play.”
“He’s a Finals MVP,” Gordon said. “He’s doing what he’s supposed to do. That’s what they pay the man for, to come down here and be Kawhi Leonard.”
And before long, there was no more doubt about the outcome. Magic fans started leaving midway through the fourth quarter. The team’s dancers gathered for a group photo at midcourt not long after the final buzzer, as if they knew the last home game of the season had just ended. /bmjo