Board Man Gets Paid

“Oh, I’m about to get buckets on you.”

Here, more or less in his own words, is a play-by-play account of Game 3 of the NBA Finals from Kawhi Leonard, who led the Toronto Raptors to a 123-109 victory over a severely shorthanded Golden State Warriors squad. What follows is in chronological order of plays in which Leonard was directly involved and successful[1], courtesy of basketball-reference.com.

First Quarter

Board man.

Bucket.

Board man gets paid.

I’m a board man!

No.

Bucket.

Bucket.

No.

Bucket.

Bucket.

Bucket.

No.

Bucket.

Second Quarter

Nope, nope, nope.

Third Quarter

Layup.

Buckets.

No.

Bucket.

Board man gets paid.

No, no, no.

No.

Bucket.

Buckets.

No.

Bucket.

Bucket.

Board man.

Bucket.

Bucket.

I’m a board man!

Fourth Quarter

Bucket.

Layup.

Bucket.

Yeah, I’m a board man.

*     *     *

[1] Shots he made and fouls he drew, as well as his steals and rebounds; for our purposes, “bucket” refers to a two-pointer or a free throw, whereas “buckets” refers to three-pointers. “No,” “no, no, no” and “nope, nope, nope” refer to defensive players or drawn fouls; “Layup” is a layup. Any “board man”-related quote is a rebound.