3 Wild Stats From Kawhi Leonard’s Historic Game 2 Against The Nuggets

Kawhi Leonard has done it again. In a borderline must-win game (you don’t want to fall behind 0-2 to Nikola Jokic in a series), Leonard dropped 39 points en route to a 105-102 Game 2 victory to knot the series up at 1-1.

With another vintage Leonard performance in the books (one we need to cherish), we thought it wise to dig deeper and contextualize his legendary performance. So, here are three eye-popping stats from Leonard’s dominant outing.

Kawhi Leonard drops 39 PTS, 5 AST, 2 STL, 1 BLK, 79 FG% as the Clippers get the 105-102 WIN over the Nuggets and TIE THE SERIES 🔥

THE KLAW IS HERE 🤖 pic.twitter.com/03u6S7bSWO

— Basketball Forever (@bballforever_) April 22, 2025

No Wasted Movements

Since he entered his prime, Leonard has often been likened to some sort of futuristic cyborg because how much he can do with so few shooting attempts. He’s a player with very little fat in his approach, and Game 2 was the perfect illustration of that.

It only took 19 field goal attempts for Leonard to score his 39 points. That’s the second time in Leonard’s playoff career he’s scored at least 39 points on fewer than 20 field goal attempts (the other time was Game 4 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Semifinals).

Last night marked the 46th occasion in NBA playoff history a player has ever scored 39 points on fewer than 20 field goals, per Stathead. Leonard is one of 29 players to ever accomplish this feat and one of 11 to do it twice. Of these 46 performances, his pristine 92 percent true shooting is the third-highest.

Leonard is no stranger to high-volume, high-efficiency playoff eruptions. In fact, he’s tied for the most 30-point/75 percent shooting performances in playoff history.

Playoff games with 30+ PTS, 75+ FG%:

4 — Kawhi Leonard
4 — Shaq
4 — Kareem pic.twitter.com/4pL04cvVsN

— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 22, 2025

Pure Bucket-Getting

An easy way to score a bunch of points without taking too many field goals is to draw a lot of fouls. That’s how many players in the-39-points-on-fewer-than-20-field-goals club ed such prestigious company. Of those 46 performances, 40 included the player attempting at least 10 free throws.

For his career, Leonard has always been great at getting to the free-throw line. This isn’t a knock on his splendor as a player. Almost every all-time great made sure to cash in on the game’s most efficient shot.

However, last night, Leonard didn’t need the charity stripe to be hyper-efficient. His five free-throw attempts represent the lowest number among the 46 games we’ve been citing.

All-Time Playoff Performer

Leonard’s career playoff points per game average is good but far from an all-time level. At 21.4 points, he ranks just 61st all-time in per-game average behind guys like John Wall, DeMar DeRozan and Isaiah Thomas.

Leonard initially came into the league as a three-and-D role player. It wasn’t until later in his tenure with the San Antonio Spurs he developed into the silent assassin we now know and love. His first true season in this spot was 2016-17. Since then, he’s played 66 playoff games, including Monday. Here are his averages:

Kawhi Leonard last 66 playoff games:

29.1 PPG // 8.4 RPG // 4.4 APG
57 2P% // 38 3P% // 89 FT% // 64 TS% https://t.co/usnYT3PnRA

— Automatic (@automaticnba) April 22, 2025

If we just take his averages from that time, Leonard is tied with Jerry West for fifth in points per game and he’d be third in true shooting. He actually already is third all-time in true shooting, but his lead over fourth would be even higher if only the 66-game sample was used.

Leonard is a truly incredible playoff performer and Monday’s Game 2 was yet another example.