2016 NBA Finals: Who Will Win Finals MVP?

The 2016 NBA Finals will be over in one week, maybe sooner. The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers all have worthy candidates, but who has the best shot at winning Finals MVP?

The 2016 NBA Finals are nearing a close and with the Golden State Warriors leading the Cleveland Cavaliers 3-1 in the series, it’s time to look back on the series and evaluate possible Finals MVP candidates.

When these two teams met last season in the Finals, Andre Iguodala came away as the Finals MVP winner. He did so as a player that came off the bench.

Iguodala’s statistics were solid coming off the bench, averaging 16.3 points (PPG), 4.0 assists (APG) and 5.8 rebounds (RPG) per game while shooting 52.1 percent from the field.

Despite his effort, the Washington Post‘s Neil Greenberg dubbed him as the worst Finals MVP winner in the last 30 years.

Iguodala, 32, has an opportunity to repeat as Finals MVP, according to the New York Times‘ Benjamin Hoffman. The greatest example is that when Iguodala is off the court, the Cavs outscore the Warriors by 7.8 points. When he is on the court, the Warriors outscore the Cavs by 12 points.

If Iguodala were to win back-to-back Finals MVP awards it would be pretty remarkable, considering he has made one start in the past two seasons.

He would also join elite company with Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and James as the only players to win the award twice.

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Iguodala, who reigns from Springfield, IL, may hand his title over to a fellow Illinoisan in backup point guard Shaun Livingston. Livingston scored 20 points in Game 1.

He’s continued to play well in the series by hitting on 16-of-25 shots, which gives him an effective field goal percentage of 64 percent.

Livingston, 30, is also getting it done on the defensive end of the court. Opponent’s are shooting 28 percent against him in 89 minutes of court time this series. As FiveThirtyEight explains, Livingston leads back-to-back MVP winner Stephen Curry in the Finals MVP race.

June 2, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston (34) shoots a basket against Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) during the second half in game one of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

Curry has an opportunity to take over the Finals ballot with a big game in a potential championship clincher.

Of course, he is coming off of a game where he scored 38 points in Cleveland, though it wasn’t as efficient as the MVP is used to.

He hit on 11-of-25 (44 percent), which is down from a career shooting percentage of 47.7 percent, including a 50.4 percent from the field during the 2015-16 regular season.

It would be a kick in the groin to not mention Draymond Green‘s efforts in the series. Green was the factor in a 110-77 win in Game 3 by scoring 28 points in 34 minutes.

Green’s scoring outburst comes on an 11-for-20 (55 percent) shooting performance, including going 5-for-8 (62.5 percent) on three-point attempts. He averaged 14.0 PPG during the regular season and only shot 38.8 percent on three-pointers.

However, Green will be suspended for Game 5 on Monday, according to ESPN.com‘s Brian Windhorst.

Having two bench players as potential Finals MVP winners shows the value of their motto, “Strength In Numbers.”

Having a different player step up each night is a testament to the kind of team they are and is a big reason as to why they are on the brink of winning a second straight NBA championship.

The odds may be against the Cavs by trailing 3-1 in the series and going on the road. Only 10 teams have come back from that deficit in the playoffs, including this year’s Warriors team against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals.

No team has successfully pulled the comeback off in 32 tries in the NBA Finals, according to the New York Post‘s Fred Kerber.

If the Cavs are going to complete a rather improbable comeback with their backs against the wall, there will be several candidates on Cleveland’s roster to make a push for Finals MVP.

It starts with James, who was the runner-up in last year’s Finals MVP voting, despite being on the losing team. Of course, he was without the help of Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, who both sat the series out after Irving was injured in Game 1.

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James, 31, has not enjoyed the same successes he had in last year’s series, but he is shooting 48 percent from the field in this year’s Finals.

If he’s going to lead the Cavs all the way back to deliver a championship to Cleveland, he’s going to have to cut down on his 5.8 turnovers per game and must shoot better than 31 percent from three-point range, which he currently averages, as CBSSports.com‘s Matt Moore points out.

Irving had a remarkable first quarter for the Cavs in Game 3, where he scored 16 of his 30 points. He also accounted for 48 percent of the Cavs points (33) in the first quarter.

He was seeing the court well and also added eight assists to his impressive performance. He will need to have another strong showing if he wants to win a championship.

There will need to be some role players that step up for the Cavs if they have any chance of pulling off an unthinkable comeback. Their bench has looked bad against the Warriors, who pride themselves on great bench play.

The Cavs can be at their best with the bench players playing well, which is what cost them Game 4 on Friday night. Whoever decides to step up, whether it’s J.R. Smith, Richard Jefferson or Kevin Love, will also be in the mix for Finals MVP.

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There shouldn’t be any surprise that the Warriors dominate this list. The fact that they have a 3-1 series lead allows for that and means that they have better stats.

The Cavs have their backs against the walls and, barring a historic comeback will likely fall to the Warriors for the second straight year.