SAN ANTONIO -- "M-V-P! M-V-P!"

The chant goes up on a regular basis in so any different arenas that it's almost become part of the routine background to the entire NBA experience, like dancers that shimmy and music and beer prices that make your ears bleed.

Then there are the raw, visceral moments when the rote becomes real and the breath gets stuck somewhere in the diaphragm.

When Kawhi Leonard hit the leaning 25-foot, 3-pointer that put the San Antonio Spurs in front with 25 seconds left to play, the game still was not over. That didn't happen until Leonard went to the other end of the court and slammed the door.

One second the Rockets' James Harden was racing toward the basket and in the next a long and larcenous Leonard swooped in like a hawk snatching up a bunny in his talons for a meal.

Leonard’s come-from-behind block not only preserved the Spurs' 112-110 victory -- their eighth in a row -- but should have refocused the race for MVP. For while Harden and Russell Westbrook have been piling up points and ridiculous stat lines since October, it is Leonard who has been relentlessly and ruthlessly constructing an all-around resume that makes him the most complete player in the game.

"I hope [the voters] understand," said teammate Pau Gasol. "I hope they see. It's not hard to see if you really watch. I think he's very much deserving of getting the MVP this season. The way he's playing, the way he's contributing on both ends of the floor. He's not the guy that just puts up 30 points and that's it. He makes huge plays defensively. So, to me, he's my MVP."

Leonard is not short on offensive credentials. He is averaging 26.2 points per game, the most for any Spurs player since Hall of Famer David Robinson averaged 27.6 in his MVP season of 1994-95. With 39 points against the Rockets, he has cracked the 30-point barrier 23 times this season, the most for any Spur in a single season aside from Robinson and the legendary George Gervin.

Yet above it all, what puts Leonard in a class apart from Harden and Westbrook is his work as one of the NBA's most dogged defenders, the shut-down force on the perimeter who is averaging two steals per game, while usually taking on the toughest defensive assignment each night.