Kawhi Leonard is The Terminator

Board man is out here getting timely buckets, leading a Raptors team that’s now just one game away from a championship.

If Kawhi Leonard is a robot, he’s a terminator, sent specifically to destroy all Golden State Warriors standing between him and an NBA championship. The Warriors got lucky two seasons ago, when Leonard got injured in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs blew a 25-point lead, then got swept out of the round.

Golden State has no such luck this time around. Leonard is here, and he’s come for blood.

The Raptors took a commanding 3-1 series lead in their convincing 105-92 win over the Warriors on Friday, and Leonard had his claws all over the game. Golden State had a battered roster — no Kevin Durant, a hobbled Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney playing with a fractured collarbone, and DeMarcus Cousins virtually playing on one leg — but they looked a class below the Raptors, who are now one win shy of an NBA championship with the series shifting to Toronto for what could be a decisive Game 6.

Leonard was remarkable, which has been the norm in this playoff stretch. He finished with 36 points on 50 percent shooting, along with 12 rebounds and four steals. Leonard rarely deviated from the plan. He took shots within the flow of the offense, every bucket flying under the radar until you looked at the box score midway through the fourth quarter.

In truth, Leonard’s production came entirely in two essential stretches: 14 points in the first quarter, and another 17 in the third. Leonard gunned the Raptors back into it after the Warriors took an early lead, then gave them a boost after halftime, where Toronto took control of the game.

“He’s always been that guy who you can look at when something goes bad,” Pascal Siakam said after Game 3. “He just has that calm demeanor. It gives you that peace, knowing that everything is going to be OK. And I feel like that every time I’m on the floor with him.”

Leonard’s 36-point game marks the ninth-straight outing Leonard has scored at least 29 points on the road in the playoffs. That kind of stat doesn’t even make sense. Leonard has always been a player who raises his game in the playoffs, when his team needs him most. But he’s in a different stratosphere against a Warriors team that has no answer for him.

Maybe that answer comes in the form of Kevin Durant, who could return from his calf injury for Game 5 in Toronto. Maybe that answer comes in the form of an offensive explosion from the Warriors, who haven’t scored more than 109 points in the Finals and just posted their lowest-scoring game since March 23.

Or maybe there’s just no answer for Kawhi Leonard. He’s a robot who bleeds anti-freeze. He’s the terminator, shooting his way to an NBA Finals.