No matter who wins the championship, LeBron James should be selected NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. ADVERTISING No matter who wins the championship, LeBron James should be selected NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. Not to placate the Cavaliers’ star for
No matter who wins the championship, LeBron James should be selected NBA Finals Most Valuable Player.
Not to placate the Cavaliers’ star for finishing third behind Stephen Curry and James Harden in the regular-season MVP vote, but to acknowledge James’ Herculean all-around excellence. To recognize that as his remaining supporting cast wilts around him, James continues to summon every ounce of energy for awe-inspiring displays of leadership and athleticism.
After a 104-91 loss to the Golden State Warriors Sunday night at Oracle Arena left the Cavs facing a 3-2 deficit going into Game 6 at home Tuesday, there was growing support for James as MVP, even if he becomes the first player on a losing team picked since Jerry West in 1969. But the caveat to the growing drumbeat for James is that the Cavs have to force a Game 7.
There wouldn’t be a Game 7, or a Game 6 for that matter, if James wasn’t playing at such a high level and carrying such a heavy load.
After Kyrie Irving fractured his left kneecap in overtime of a Game 1 loss, the Cavs looked destined to be swept, just as James’ Cavs were by the San Antonio Spurs in 2007. The loss of another All-Star in Irving after Kevin Love’s dislocated shoulder in Game 4 of the first-round clincher against the Boston Celtics was supposed to be devastating.
Instead, the Cavs have played the Warriors to overtime twice in five games in a series that has been decided by an average of 12.8 points, an average of five through the first three games. In the past two, with the Warriors winning by 21 and 13 points, respectively, the Cavs were within six points at the start of the fourth quarter in Game 4 and trailed by one with five minutes left in Game 5.
That’s impossible without James’ improbable numbers.
Some believe the Finals MVP should go to the most important player on the best team. If that’s the majority’s view, it will wreck the chances of another man accomplishing West’s feat. Forty-six years ago, West’s Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in seven games in 1969. That was the first year the league named a Finals MVP.
West’s stat line in those Finals read: 37.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 43.9 minutes.
James’ stat line through Game 5 reads: 36.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 45.6 minutes.
James has two triple-doubles in these Finals. West and James are the only players to notch a triple-double in the Finals with 40-plus points. James has scored 40 or more in three games, one short of the Finals record shared by West (1969) and the Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan (1993 against the Phoenix Suns). And James had 39 in Game 2.
West was playing alongside Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. James’ most reliable teammates at the moment are Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov (when he gets extended playing time).
Then there’s the question that if the Finals MVP is not James, then who?
It should be Andre Iguodala, who started for the first time this season or postseason in Game 4 and changed the series. When he was coming off the bench, Iguodala had proved to be the best defender of James. He has continued, holding James to 20 points in his first starting assignment. Since then, the Warriors have played small ball and seized control, although James and the undermanned Cavs have fought as long as their tired legs can carry them. Iguodala was the Warriors’ MVP in Games 1-4.
But will a small panel of media members have the guts to pick Iguodala, who is averaging 14.6 points, 6 rebounds and 3.8 assists? Can a Finals MVP shoot 2-of-11 from the free-throw line, as Iguodala did Sunday, en route to a 14-8-7 performance? A case could be made that behind Curry, the Warrior who did the most damage in Game 5 was Leandro Barbosa (13 points in 17 minutes).
Curry could end up the Finals MVP, which would be the 16th time the winner of the regular-season award repeated. Curry exploded with 37 points in 42 minutes in Game 5 after tossing in 22 points in Game 4. But Warriors coach Steve Kerr had to make adjustments to get Curry going. He’s averaging 26.2 points, 5 rebounds and 5.8 assists in the Finals, but didn’t look like the greatest shooter who ever played, as some tout, until Sunday.
Unless Curry finishes the series with a scoring deluge, Iguodala and Curry could split the vote.
Picking Curry would be the easy way out. Picking Iguodala would take conviction. Picking James would be a nod to greatness rarely seen.
James’ performance, if it comes in a losing cause, doesn’t fit the accepted definition of a Finals MVP. But if I had the chance, I would choose James’ historical marvel under the most daunting of circumstances.
