2016 NBA Playoffs: Each Team’s Week 1 MVP
Atlanta Hawks: Al Horford
You could make a case for Jeff Teague, but Al Horford has been the Atlanta Hawks‘ best player on both ends of the floor through the first three games of this series. Paul Millsap‘s offense has disappeared despite his superb defense, leaving us with Big Al, who is averaging an incredibly well-rounded 16.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.7 blocks, 3.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
Horford has been extremely efficient with his shooting as well, converting 47.4 percent of his field goal attempts, 44.4 percent of his three-point attempts and 90 percent of his free throws. He really has done it all.
As a capable passer, defender, perimeter shooter and scorer, Horford was actually doing it all before he added in this impressive run of shot-blocking to his repertoire. It took 42 points from Isaiah Thomas in Game 3 to make this a series, so all Horford and the Hawks need to do against this shorthanded Celtics team is prevent that from happening again to possibly seal things up in five games.
Next: Boston Celtics