NBA Finals MVP Rankings: Jaylen Brown still the favorite, while Luka Doncic needs a Mavericks miracle

The Dallas Mavericks staved off elimination in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, and Monday night they’ll be back at it in Boston for Game 5 against the Celtics. It still doesn’t look good for Dallas. No team in NBA history has recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, let alone in the Finals, but if they can get a win in Boston and take this thing back to Dallas for Game 6, things will start to get pretty interesting. 

For now, though, we’re still pretty safe in assuming Boston is going to win the title, with the only real drama being who’s going to take home Finals MVP. After four games, here are my Finals MVP rankings. 

Jason Kidd said Brown is Boston’s best player, and in this series, at least, he has been right. Brown had a dud of a Game 4, but so did every Boston player, and he should still be the Finals MVP favorite. Brown has had three terrific games, with Nos. 1 and 3 being his standout showings. He’s Boston’s leading scorer at 20.3 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 still his award to lose. 

Holiday’s greatness in this series can’t be quantified with numbers, though his 14.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists on 55/44/100 shooting splits is plenty impressive. Holiday has been unbelievable in this series (again, excluding Game 4, which goes for every Celtic). 

Holiday’s defense, as usual, has disrupted Dallas all over the court. He has smothered Kyrie Irving, who couldn’t do a thing offensively through the first…

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Author : Brad Botkin

Publish date : 2024-06-17 12:46:09

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