ESPN Insider request - Postseason MVPs

[russwest0]

holy hell, the mods should just delete this thread to save future viewers from losing brain cells trying to process the logic behind espn's choices

[Beastmode88]

Bosh.

[russwest0]

that moment when I realize that people actually pay for this shit

[SouBeachTalents]

Lol, Wade and Bosh

[Stringer Bell]

Monday, June 16, 2014
Updated: June 17, 4:28 PM ET
Most dominant NBA Finals ever

By Kevin Pelton
ESPN Insider



The Spurs outscored the Heat by an average of 14 points per game in the 2014 NBA Finals.

This rematch of a classic, seven-game NBA Finals was supposed to be another thriller. Instead, we got a rout.

And while the 2014 Finals won't go down in history as one of the most exciting or dramatic championship series, the San Antonio Spurs' performance in their five-game series win over the Miami Heat should be remembered as the most dominant Finals performance ever.

Here's a look at a variety of eye-popping statistics that underscore San Antonio's dominance.


Hyper-efficient offense

We start where the Spurs' victory began: at the offensive end of the floor. With its ball movement and outside shooting, San Antonio put on a clinic at times, particularly in the first half of Game 3. The Spurs ended up with a 124.0 offensive rating for the series, the best by any team in a Finals dating back to 1978 (the first year for which Basketball-Reference.com has turnovers by series).


BEST FINALS OFFENSIVE RATINGS
Year Team Opp ORtg
2014 SAS MIA 124.0
1989 DET LAL 122.1
1995 HOU ORL 121.1
2002 LAL NJN 120.0
1987 LAL BOS 119.5
2000 IND LAL 118.2
2012 MIA OKC 117.6
1991 CHI LAL 116.7


San Antonio's .528 shooting percentage was an NBA Finals record, but that doesn't tell the whole story of how well the Spurs shot the ball. They made 55 3-pointers -- more than any team has ever made in a Finals of fewer than seven games -- and shot them at a 46.6 percent clip.

Effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the additional value of 3s by treating them as 1.5 field goals, does a better job of capturing San Antonio's efficient shooting. The Spurs' 60.4 percent mark blew away the previous record (55.5 percent by the 2002 Lakers).


Given that reliance on outside shots, San Antonio's offense was remarkably consistent. The Spurs topped a 120 offensive rating -- one that would far and away lead the league in the regular season -- four times in five games, with their Game 2 loss (110.1) the only exception. In both Games 3 and 4 in Miami, San Antonio reached the hallowed mark of 130 points per 100 possessions -- equivalent to making all 2-point shots at a 65 percent clip.

It's slightly more difficult to capture how well the Spurs moved the ball. They assisted on 66.5 percent of their field goals in the series, a high rate but hardly unprecedented -- 10 teams since 1978 have done better in a Finals. While SportVU data from NBA.com can't be compared to past Finals, it tells a more accurate story about San Antonio's ball movement.

Updating a stat my colleague Tom Haberstroh cited last week, the Spurs passed the ball 473 more times than the Heat in this series, outpassing them by at least 100 passes in each of the final three games -- all wins.



Solid defense

San Antonio was so good offensively that it overshadowed the Spurs playing well at the defensive end of the floor. San Antonio's 106.4 defensive rating in the series wasn't spectacular on its own, but it looks a lot better considering the opposition. The Heat's 113.6 offensive rating ranked second in the NBA during the regular season, and there were no signs of trouble before the Finals. Miami had scored 12.9 more points per 100 possessions during the Eastern Conference playoffs than its opponents allowed during the regular season.

The Heat never once in the series reached their average offensive rating from the regular season (they scored 113.1 points per 100 possessions in Game 2, their best effort). The clinching Game 5 was just the eighth time all season Miami failed to reach a point per possession, and the first time in the playoffs.

Game 5 aside, the Heat shot the ball well. In fact, their effective 53.7 percent shooting ranked third all-time among Finalists. But San Antonio controlled every other facet of the game, winning all four of Dean Oliver's "four factors." The Spurs harassed Miami into more turnovers than usual, kept the Heat off the foul line and completely dominated the defensive glass, allowing just 28 offensive rebounds in the five games.


Lopsided margins

All four of San Antonio's Finals wins came by at least 15 points. If that sounds impressive, it should. It's happened only once before in Finals history: 1960, when the Celtics mixed easy wins and closer losses in a series against the St. Louis Hawks that went the distance.

In addition to cruising to their victories, with an air-conditioning (or lack thereof) boost in Game 1, the Spurs also suffered their only loss by the narrow margin of two points. As a result, per Basketball-Reference.com, their plus-70 point differential (plus-14.0 points per game) was the largest ever in a Finals, surpassing the 12.6 points per game by which the Boston Celtics outscored the Los Angeles Lakers in 1965, another five-game series. (The most lopsided sweep saw the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks outscore the Baltimore Bullets by 12.3 points per game.)

The case for San Antonio remains strong when we take the opposition into account. Even though this season's Heat weren't as effective in the regular season as their championship predecessors, the Spurs still beat them by 17.9 points per game more than we'd expect from an average opponent, accounting for their extra home game. That's the best adjusted Finals point differential in league history, ahead of the 1991 Chicago Bulls beating a good Lakers team by 9.8 points per game despite playing more games on the road.


BEST FINALS PERFORMANCES
Year Winner Loser Diff SOS ADiff
2014 San Antonio Miami 14.0 3.9 17.9
1991 Chicago L.A. Lakers 9.8 7.6 17.4
2009 L.A. Lakers Orlando 9.4 7.6 17.0
2008 Boston L.A. Lakers 8.3 7.3 15.6
1983 Philadelphia L.A. Lakers 10.0 5.6 15.6
1961 Boston St. Louis 12.4 2.7 15.1
1992 Chicago Portland 7.3 7.3 14.6
1998 Chicago Utah 7.8 6.5 14.4
1995 Houston Orlando 7.0 7.1 14.1
1989 Detroit L.A. Lakers 6.8 7.2 13.9


Given how San Antonio controlled the game at both ends against a two-time defending champion -- and not one hobbled like the 1989 Lakers, who were swept with Byron Scott on the sidelines and Magic Johnson severely limited by injury -- the Spurs' performance deserves to be considered among the greatest Finals efforts ever. And when it comes to sheer, one-sided dominance, the 2014 Finals will be tough to top.





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[JimmyMcAdocious]

that moment when I realize that people actually pay for this shit

Recruiting bits are useful if you are a college fan (especially when they had Telep, who was the best in the business. He went to the Spurs FO, of course...).

There's a deal at least once a month on random sites for a year of ESPN the magazine for like $2. You use the code on the magazine to register for Insider. Load up on that shit and I basically have a lifetime subscription for the price of a half decent lunch. Good deal If I say so myself.

[tmacattack33]

Well they pretty much had to put someone from the championship winning team at number one.

And usually that will make sense...like going backwards from last year it'd be: 13 Lebron, 12 Lebron, 11 Dirk, 10 Kobe, 09 Kobe, 08 KG, 07 Duncan, 06 Wade. But this year it was won by a true team with no one player really dominating.

[DMAVS41]

LOL at that list.

Westbrook and Lebron were the two best players in the playoffs.

Duncan deserves a mention, but he wasn't better than Lebron/WB.

Parker at 2? Holy shit...the over-rating never ****ing stops!

[Gotterdammerung]

Thanks, Stringer Bell. Will rep when the rep system comes back.

[-Lebron23-]

Is Kevin Pelton retarded? He is way so consistently stupid that he makes me wonder if there's something wrong with him. Shockingly clueless even for ESPN standards