Outside of the two No. 1 seeds, who swept their respective opponents, NBA teams have treated us to some of the most entertaining, physical, nail-biting and ridiculous first-round playoff series, maybe ever.
With that have come some sensational individual performances. Here we rate them as our Playoff MVPs.
(So far.)
(And this should be an actual award, by the way, NBA.)
(Back to your regularly schedule programming: A Playoff MVP ballot. Made up by me.)
1. Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
Denver’s margin of error is razor thin in the first round against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Nuggets have been outscored by 23 points in a series they are tied, 3-3. Even with Jokić on the court, they are scrapping for everything they get against a deeper team, outscoring L.A. by 13 points in his 248 minutes, which, over the course of this series, is apparently just enough to win three of these first six games.
No player’s impact on his team has been more valuable than Jokić’s in the first round. Denver cannot afford to take Jokić off the floor, as the Nuggets have been outscored by almost a point per minute when the NBA’s three-time MVP rests. As it was during the regular season, take Jokić out of the game, and the Nuggets are something like the worst offense in NBA history; put him in, and they are an elite outfit.
What is more: Jokić is doing this against an opponent, Ivica Zubac, who was seemingly built to slow him down. In all likelihood, Zubac will make an All-Defensive team, maybe even an All-NBA roster. He has the size and strength, at the very least, to keep Jokić from owning a series. Except Jokić is owning the series.
Even a down game for Jokić in Game 5 — just 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting — ended in a triple-double. He finished +18 in 37 minutes, mostly because he drew so much attention on the offensive end, freeing his pick-and-roll partner, Jamal Murray, to explode for 43 points. He even deserves credit for Denver’s Game 4 heroics, as his gravitational pull drew both Zubac and Kawhi Leonard — the Clippers’ two best rebounders — to the ball, leaving Aaron Gordon free to chase down the buzzer-beating, put-back dunk.
What is most impressive about Jokić is his consistency. He is never not great. And you have to be that every single night to give your team a chance in the playoffs, especially when it comes to these Nuggets, who are getting nothing from their bench, as both Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook are battling injuries. If Jokić weren’t the best player in the world, which he is, then Denver would be vacationing already.
2. Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Edwards has been billed here as “the smoothest basketball player alive,” and he met those expectations as the best player in a series that featured Los Angeles Lakers superstars Luka Dončić and LeBron James.
James is 40 years old. Dončić is not in his best condition. And the bounce in Edwards’ step is real. The 23-year-old plays with an athletic freedom that allows him to get to whatever spot he wants on offense and keep an opponent from getting to his preferred location on the other end. Between Dončić, James and Austin Reaves, there was no shortage of weak spots in L.A.’s point-of-attack defense for Edwards to hunt.
Having failed in isolation against Edwards through the first four games of the series, when he averaged 30 points on 45/43/83 shooting splits, the Lakers sent more help in Game 5, holding him to 15 points on 5-of-19 shooting (0-11 3P). That may have prevented him from being No. 1 on this list. Still, Edwards calmly drew multiple defenders, finding wide-open shooters all over the floor. He finished with eight assists, leading to 21 points, in the close-out victory, though he had 16 potential assists, according to Synergy.
It was a departure from earlier in the season, when Edwards complained of double teams, saying, “I don’t know what to do, honestly.” He does now, and that growth in his game is a scary reality for everyone else.
Edwards’ explosiveness on offense often overshadows his defensive effort. He spent the bulk of his time defending Reaves, who was underwhelming in the series and almost absent from the elimination game. Likewise, in the 14 minutes Edwards spent defending Dončić over five games, the Lakers scored a paltry 0.89 points per 100 possessions. He will bust you up on both ends, and he will let you know all about it.
3. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Had a wrist injury not cost Tatum Game 2 of Boston’s first-round series against the Orlando Magic — a game the Celtics won, by the way — he, too, might be No. 1 on this list. He was that good in four games, registering a Player Efficiency Rating (28.8) that ranks him as the NBA’s leader among still-active players.
The Celtics outscored the Magic by 65 points — or by 21 points per 100 possessions — in Tatum’s 156 minutes of the series. They were outscored by one in the 84 minutes he was on the bench. Essentially, Boston is either a dominant defending champ or in danger of losing, depending on if he is in the game.
Orlando wanted this. The Magic deliberately defended Tatum — and everyone else on Boston — 1-on-1, switching everything and staying home on shooters, to keep him from carving them up as a playmaker. So Tatum went about the work of dominating in isolation, where he spent more time than anyone in these playoffs and scored 1.05 points per possession, best among those who isolated at a high volume.
He still made plays, too, averaging 5.3 assists in the series and amassing 10 in the close-out Game 5, as the Magic tried sending more help. This came against the league’s second-rated defense, a team that dragged the Celtics into the mud. The only one seemingly unaffected by the messy brand of basketball was Tatum, who, after the Magic won Game 3, collected 72 points (on 49/47/100 shooting splits), 22 rebounds, 13 assists and four steals over the final two games of the series to send Orlando packing.
“Very impressive,” Celtics veteran Al Horford said of Tatum’s ability to adapt his team-oriented game to a more individualized effort against the Magic. “The thing that impresses me most, time and time again, when it’s time to finish off a series, he goes to another level, and [Game 5] was so impressive. We get him to a certain point, and then he knows what to do and just kind of takes over. It was pretty special to see.”
If Tatum maintains this level of performance into another conference finals and beyond, we may have to have a more serious conversation about whether he is the best player in the East, regardless of whether Giannis Antetokounmpo returns to the Milwaukee Bucks. Tatum simply has no holes in his game.
4. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
We talk a lot about Curry’s gravity, and yet we probably do not do it enough. The greatest shooter to ever live draws so much attention — and moves so much, drawing that attention wherever he goes — that it opens up the floor to everyone else. And everyone else in Golden State’s case is not the greatest shakes. They have Jimmy Butler, a playoff beast, and Draymond Green, a defensive dynamo, but beyond that aging core are question marks. Because of Curry, though, the Warriors elevate into a contender, one on the verge of knocking out a No. 2 seed, because most anyone in the NBA can knock down open shots.
We probably do not talk enough about how incredible Curry is as a shooter, either. Since he first led the league in 3-point attempts in 2012-13, over a span of 13 years, he is now shooting 42.1% on double-digit 3-point attempts per game. That was actually unimaginable before he arrived. We take it for granted now.
Except the Houston Rockets through five games have stuck Amen Thompson, an absolute menace, on Curry. Thompson notoriously held Curry to three points in a pivotal regular-season meeting on April 6. However, in Games 1 and 3, Curry reminded Thompson, already a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in his sophomore season, that greatness cannot be stopped, totaling 67 points on 24-of-42 shooting.
He has been held in check in the other games, but it is that gravity that has his Warriors leading the Rockets. Golden State is +11 when Curry is on the court, scoring 118.5 points per 100 possessions, and -17 when he is off the floor, scoring 82.8 points per 100 possessions. Expect more Curry minutes in Game 6.
Unless his thumb injury becomes an issue. The Warriors believe the Rockets are targeting the thumb that has caused problems to his shooting hand since January. And Curry is practically shooting 50/40/90 for the playoffs. As much credit as we give him, he deserves more. The man was born to shoot a basketball.
5. Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Whenever you think Brunson is laboring is when he will attack, probably making a floater you never thought he could. No one plays like him. He keeps you on your heels, or your toes, one after the other, until he decides whether he wants to shoot over you or go around you. Or maybe he will go right through you, muscling his way to the free-throw line. He is tough. A Chicago kid on a New York playground.
Screw the free-throw merchant stuff. How else is a 6-foot-1 floor general supposed to survive in the NBA? Brunson is not just surviving. He is thriving. You do not get where he is on free-throw merchandise alone. Did Isiah Thomas hunt fouls? Or was he just fouled a lot as he macheted through trees. Chicken and egg.
“It’s part of the game. I think when you have guys who are 6-7, 6-8, long arms, all that, they’re gonna use it to their advantage,” Brunson said when asked about it this week. “My advantage — I feel like it’s my strength — is the way I’m able to use my footwork and find different angles to attack. I don’t know how else to say it, but I like the way I’m able to use my body to get off defenders and find ways to attack.”
Brunson has generated 0.93 points per possession in isolation and 1.10 as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, per the NBA’s tracking data. He is among the league’s playoffleaders at both. He has the ball in his hands a lot, and that has been good for the Knicks — roughly the equivalent of the NBA’s best halfcourt offenses.
Mainly Brunson is always there. Lurking. The Knicks are never trailing by much because of it. They were +19 when he was on the court against the Pistons and -11 when he was off it. The series was decided by eight points. If only he could survive in his pick-and-roll defense as well as he thrives in it on offense.
Oh, and we have not even mentioned yet his masterpiece — a 40-point effort, including a game-winning 3-pointer, in a close-out Game 6 of the Pistons in Detroit. It was befitting the Clutch Player of the Year.
Here’s the rest of the top 10:
6. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
7. Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers
8. Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
9. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
10. Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Honorable mention: Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic (29-8-4 on 44/44/66); Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics (23-8-2 on 49/44/84); Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons (25-8-9 on 43/18/83); Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers (30-7-6 on 45/35/89); James Harden, L.A. Clippers (21-6-9 on 45/38/81); LeBron James, Lakers (25-9-6 on 49/36/78); Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers (16-7-2 on 60/47/88); Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets (24-5-7 on 48/43/94); Julius Randle, Minnesota Timberwolves (23-5-4 on 48/39/84); Alperen Şengün, Houston Rockets (21-11-5 on 48/40/62); Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers (20-6-2 on 56/44/73); Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder (23-5-5 on 54/29/60); Ivica Zubac, Clippers (20-10-3 on 67/0/58).
Outside of the two No. 1 seeds, who swept their respective opponents, NBA teams have treated us to some of the most entertaining, physical, nail-biting and ridiculous first-round playoff series, maybe ever.
With that have come some sensational individual performances. Here we rate them as our Playoff MVPs.
Advertisement
(So far.)
(And this should be an actual award, by the way, NBA.)
(Back to your regularly schedule programming: A Playoff MVP ballot. Made up by me.)
Denver’s margin of error is razor thin in the first round against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Nuggets have been outscored by 23 points in a series they are tied, 3-3. Even with Jokić on the court, they are scrapping for everything they get against a deeper team, outscoring L.A. by 13 points in his 248 minutes, which, over the course of this series, is apparently just enough to win three of these first six games.
No player’s impact on his team has been more valuable than Jokić’s in the first round. Denver cannot afford to take Jokić off the floor, as the Nuggets have been outscored by almost a point per minute when the NBA’s three-time MVP rests. As it was during the regular season, take Jokić out of the game, and the Nuggets are something like the worst offense in NBA history; put him in, and they are an elite outfit.
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What is more: Jokić is doing this against an opponent, Ivica Zubac, who was seemingly built to slow him down. In all likelihood, Zubac will make an All-Defensive team, maybe even an All-NBA roster. He has the size and strength, at the very least, to keep Jokić from owning a series. Except Jokić is owning the series.
Even a down game for Jokić in Game 5 — just 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting — ended in a triple-double. He finished +18 in 37 minutes, mostly because he drew so much attention on the offensive end, freeing his pick-and-roll partner, Jamal Murray, to explode for 43 points. He even deserves credit for Denver’s Game 4 heroics, as his gravitational pull drew both Zubac and Kawhi Leonard — the Clippers’ two best rebounders — to the ball, leaving Aaron Gordon free to chase down the buzzer-beating, put-back dunk.
What is most impressive about Jokić is his consistency. He is never not great. And you have to be that every single night to give your team a chance in the playoffs, especially when it comes to these Nuggets, who are getting nothing from their bench, as both Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook are battling injuries. If Jokić weren’t the best player in the world, which he is, then Denver would be vacationing already.
Edwards has been billed here as “the smoothest basketball player alive,” and he met those expectations as the best player in a series that featured Los Angeles Lakers superstars Luka Dončić and LeBron James.
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James is 40 years old. Dončić is not in his best condition. And the bounce in Edwards’ step is real. The 23-year-old plays with an athletic freedom that allows him to get to whatever spot he wants on offense and keep an opponent from getting to his preferred location on the other end. Between Dončić, James and Austin Reaves, there was no shortage of weak spots in L.A.’s point-of-attack defense for Edwards to hunt.
Having failed in isolation against Edwards through the first four games of the series, when he averaged 30 points on 45/43/83 shooting splits, the Lakers sent more help in Game 5, holding him to 15 points on 5-of-19 shooting (0-11 3P). That may have prevented him from being No. 1 on this list. Still, Edwards calmly drew multiple defenders, finding wide-open shooters all over the floor. He finished with eight assists, leading to 21 points, in the close-out victory, though he had 16 potential assists, according to Synergy.
It was a departure from earlier in the season, when Edwards complained of double teams, saying, “I don’t know what to do, honestly.” He does now, and that growth in his game is a scary reality for everyone else.
Edwards’ explosiveness on offense often overshadows his defensive effort. He spent the bulk of his time defending Reaves, who was underwhelming in the series and almost absent from the elimination game. Likewise, in the 14 minutes Edwards spent defending Dončić over five games, the Lakers scored a paltry 0.89 points per 100 possessions. He will bust you up on both ends, and he will let you know all about it.
Had a wrist injury not cost Tatum Game 2 of Boston’s first-round series against the Orlando Magic — a game the Celtics won, by the way — he, too, might be No. 1 on this list. He was that good in four games, registering a Player Efficiency Rating (28.8) that ranks him as the NBA’s leader among still-active players.
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The Celtics outscored the Magic by 65 points — or by 21 points per 100 possessions — in Tatum’s 156 minutes of the series. They were outscored by one in the 84 minutes he was on the bench. Essentially, Boston is either a dominant defending champ or in danger of losing, depending on if he is in the game.
Orlando wanted this. The Magic deliberately defended Tatum — and everyone else on Boston — 1-on-1, switching everything and staying home on shooters, to keep him from carving them up as a playmaker. So Tatum went about the work of dominating in isolation, where he spent more time than anyone in these playoffs and scored 1.05 points per possession, best among those who isolated at a high volume.
He still made plays, too, averaging 5.3 assists in the series and amassing 10 in the close-out Game 5, as the Magic tried sending more help. This came against the league’s second-rated defense, a team that dragged the Celtics into the mud. The only one seemingly unaffected by the messy brand of basketball was Tatum, who, after the Magic won Game 3, collected 72 points (on 49/47/100 shooting splits), 22 rebounds, 13 assists and four steals over the final two games of the series to send Orlando packing.
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“Very impressive,” Celtics veteran Al Horford said of Tatum’s ability to adapt his team-oriented game to a more individualized effort against the Magic. “The thing that impresses me most, time and time again, when it’s time to finish off a series, he goes to another level, and [Game 5] was so impressive. We get him to a certain point, and then he knows what to do and just kind of takes over. It was pretty special to see.”
If Tatum maintains this level of performance into another conference finals and beyond, we may have to have a more serious conversation about whether he is the best player in the East, regardless of whether Giannis Antetokounmpo returns to the Milwaukee Bucks. Tatum simply has no holes in his game.
We talk a lot about Curry’s gravity, and yet we probably do not do it enough. The greatest shooter to ever live draws so much attention — and moves so much, drawing that attention wherever he goes — that it opens up the floor to everyone else. And everyone else in Golden State’s case is not the greatest shakes. They have Jimmy Butler, a playoff beast, and Draymond Green, a defensive dynamo, but beyond that aging core are question marks. Because of Curry, though, the Warriors elevate into a contender, one on the verge of knocking out a No. 2 seed, because most anyone in the NBA can knock down open shots.
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We probably do not talk enough about how incredible Curry is as a shooter, either. Since he first led the league in 3-point attempts in 2012-13, over a span of 13 years, he is now shooting 42.1% on double-digit 3-point attempts per game. That was actually unimaginable before he arrived. We take it for granted now.
Except the Houston Rockets through five games have stuck Amen Thompson, an absolute menace, on Curry. Thompson notoriously held Curry to three points in a pivotal regular-season meeting on April 6. However, in Games 1 and 3, Curry reminded Thompson, already a Defensive Player of the Year candidate in his sophomore season, that greatness cannot be stopped, totaling 67 points on 24-of-42 shooting.
He has been held in check in the other games, but it is that gravity that has his Warriors leading the Rockets. Golden State is +11 when Curry is on the court, scoring 118.5 points per 100 possessions, and -17 when he is off the floor, scoring 82.8 points per 100 possessions. Expect more Curry minutes in Game 6.
Unless his thumb injury becomes an issue. The Warriors believe the Rockets are targeting the thumb that has caused problems to his shooting hand since January. And Curry is practically shooting 50/40/90 for the playoffs. As much credit as we give him, he deserves more. The man was born to shoot a basketball.
Whenever you think Brunson is laboring is when he will attack, probably making a floater you never thought he could. No one plays like him. He keeps you on your heels, or your toes, one after the other, until he decides whether he wants to shoot over you or go around you. Or maybe he will go right through you, muscling his way to the free-throw line. He is tough. A Chicago kid on a New York playground.
Advertisement
Screw the free-throw merchant stuff. How else is a 6-foot-1 floor general supposed to survive in the NBA? Brunson is not just surviving. He is thriving. You do not get where he is on free-throw merchandise alone. Did Isiah Thomas hunt fouls? Or was he just fouled a lot as he macheted through trees. Chicken and egg.
“It’s part of the game. I think when you have guys who are 6-7, 6-8, long arms, all that, they’re gonna use it to their advantage,” Brunson said when asked about it this week. “My advantage — I feel like it’s my strength — is the way I’m able to use my footwork and find different angles to attack. I don’t know how else to say it, but I like the way I’m able to use my body to get off defenders and find ways to attack.”
Brunson has generated 0.93 points per possession in isolation and 1.10 as a pick-and-roll ball-handler, per the NBA’s tracking data. He is among the league’s playoff leaders at both. He has the ball in his hands a lot, and that has been good for the Knicks — roughly the equivalent of the NBA’s best halfcourt offenses.
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Mainly Brunson is always there. Lurking. The Knicks are never trailing by much because of it. They were +19 when he was on the court against the Pistons and -11 when he was off it. The series was decided by eight points. If only he could survive in his pick-and-roll defense as well as he thrives in it on offense.
Oh, and we have not even mentioned yet his masterpiece — a 40-point effort, including a game-winning 3-pointer, in a close-out Game 6 of the Pistons in Detroit. It was befitting the Clutch Player of the Year.
Here’s the rest of the top 10:
Honorable mention: Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic (29-8-4 on 44/44/66); Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics (23-8-2 on 49/44/84); Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons (25-8-9 on 43/18/83); Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers (30-7-6 on 45/35/89); James Harden, L.A. Clippers (21-6-9 on 45/38/81); LeBron James, Lakers (25-9-6 on 49/36/78); Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers (16-7-2 on 60/47/88); Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets (24-5-7 on 48/43/94); Julius Randle, Minnesota Timberwolves (23-5-4 on 48/39/84); Alperen Şengün, Houston Rockets (21-11-5 on 48/40/62); Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers (20-6-2 on 56/44/73); Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder (23-5-5 on 54/29/60); Ivica Zubac, Clippers (20-10-3 on 67/0/58).
