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Well, that was one point. The other one was that Leonard, a two-time NBA defensive player of the year, has an uncanny feel for the game at that end of the floor.

“That’s instinct and reacting quickly and knowing you can possibly make plays with your length and things like that by staying with it and finishing plays,” Nurse said.

Danny Green spent a lot of time with Leonard in San Antonio, so he didn’t get carried away by the steal.

“I’ve seen it before. I don’t think half the time he steals the ball, he sees it,” Green said. “I think his hand just gravitates towards the ball and he just palms it, just keeps going the other way.

“(In the past) if he knew he couldn’t get there, he’d dive or he probably saw it bounce, had to stretch out, made a winning play.”

Kyle Lowry leads the league in charges drawn so far and has always made a point of stepping in to take them. Now Leonard is grinding it out too.

“Fifty-fifty balls, guys dive on the floor. You see your all-star(s) dive on the floor, there’s no reason why nobody else can’t dive on the floor,” Green said.

SIAKAM FINDING THE RANGE

Pascal Siakam is doing a little bit of everything for the Raptors so far, but the thing that has stood out the most in these early days is his vastly improved outside shooting.

After connecting on only 22% of his three-pointers last year, Siakam has hit 3-of-6 so far from beyond the arc.

“I put a lot of work in (and now he’s) just letting the work I put in pay off,” Siakam explained to Postmedia after Wednesday’s win.