LeBron James: Why He Should Win Finals MVP

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Jun 14, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) drives to the basket against Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the first quarter in game five of the NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

2. The Stats

No one touches LeBron in this category either. Let’s just start with his video game-like lines from each game:

Game 1: 44 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists
Game 2: 39 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists
Game 3: 40 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists
Game 4: 20 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists
Game 5: 40 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists

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Holy crap is right! James is averaging 36.6 points, 12.4 rebounds and 8.4 assists for the series.

The two players on Golden State who could win Finals MVP are Iggy and Curry. Here are their averages:

Iguodala: 14.6ppg, 6.0rpg, 3.8apg
Curry: 26.2ppg, 4.0rpg, 5.8apg

I mean, those are fine. But what LeBron is doing makes them look like mortals far beneath his otherworldly kingdom in the clouds. They jut can’t touch him.

This was brought up in the tweet displayed earlier, but LeBron’s Finals numbers are extremely similar to West’s when he won Finals MVP on a losing team:

West (1969): 37.9ppg, 4.7rpg, 7.4apg

I shouldn’t have to say this here, but I know people will bring it up so I’ll briefly touch on it: if you’re going to harp on LeBron’s shooting percentages as a reason why he shouldn’t win Finals MVP, then you don’t understand much about basketball, or this series in particular.

LeBron is a cerebral player. He knows what it takes to win and always makes the correct decision. Always. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but he makes the right reads for the issues at hand.

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There is no other way LeBron and his Cavs can win this series. He has to suddenly become a Kobe Bryant-type player and jack up a lot more shots because no one else can save them. And when you take a lot more shots (and are often playing one-on-five), you tend to miss more of them.

Mini-rant: over.

Now, still need some more stats to sway your thinking? How about these:

LeBron has produced the last six triple-doubles in The Finals
Only averaging three turnovers a game despite ALWAYS having the ball
Since 1955, there has been a total of six 30-point triple-doubles in The Finals; LeBron is responsible for three of those
Recorded the first 40-point triple-double in The Finals in 30 years
Has matched up with Curry’s teams 12 times; only twice now has Curry had 30 points against LeBron’s clubs
Non-LeBron shots for Cleveland have a 31.0 eFG% for The Finals
On pace for the highest usage rate (41.3%) in The Finals since it started being recorded in 1983
Averaging an insane 45.6 minutes per game

I mean, you probably don’t even need to keep reading after that, huh? Let’s just do it for funsies though, okay?

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