NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
The Boston Celtics went up 3-0 in the Finals with a 106-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, and considering no team has ever recovered from a 3-0 hole to win an NBA playoff series, let alone the Finals, it feels fair to say that the Celtics are going to be your 2024 NBA champs.
The only bit of drama left is who’s going to win Finals MVP.
It feels like there are only three realistic contenders (with all due respect to Derrick White, who has been typically tremendous). Below, I have ranked them as I believe they stand heading into Game 4 on Friday — which, depending on how that goes, could still swing the final vote.
Jason Kidd said Brown is Boston’s best player, and in this series, at least, he has been right. Brown should be the Finals MVP favorite. He has had three terrific games, with Nos. 1 and 3 being his standout showings. He’s Boston’s leading scorer at 24.3 points per game.
Brown went for 30 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in Game 3. With a minute left and the Mavericks having trimmed Boston’s lead from 21 to two, Brown hit biggest shot of the series to push the lead back to four and Dallas never got any closer.
This is to say nothing of Brown’s defense, which has been extraordinary. He has allowed his teammates to stay on their assignments with his ability to not just challenge, but at times overwhelm, Luka Doncic all on his own at the point of attack. Brown is the first player since Tim Duncan in 2002 to card three steals and three blocks in Game 1 of the Finals. This is his award to lose.
Holiday’s greatness in this series can’t be quantified with numbers, though his 15.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists on 59/41/100 shooting splits is plenty impressive. Holiday has been unbelievable in this series.
His defense, as usual, has disrupted Dallas all over the court. He is smothering Kyrie Irving, who couldn’t do a thing offensively through the first two games. He’s killing the Mavericks by cutting to open space for easy finishes. He’s getting to the rim off the dribble when the situation…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-finals-mvp-rankings-jaylen-brown-the-favorite-with-celtics-in-complete-control-vs-mavericks/
Author : Brad Botkin
Publish date : 2024-06-13 13:36:03
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
