When was the last time a player won the NBA Finals MVP award while playing on the losing team? The answer is 1969 when Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers took home the award after seeing his team lose in seven games to the Boston Celtics. While it is rare to give the NBA Finals MVP to a player on the losing team, I think the 2015 NBA Finals should be one of those rare times should the Cleveland Cavaliers lose the series to the Golden State Warriors.
The NBA Finals MVP award should go to the player who has made the biggest impact on the series, played the best, and done the most to help his team win the title. Since LeBron James has by far made the biggest impact on the series, played the best, and done more to help his team than anyone else in the series, he should win the NBA Finals MVP award. It's that simple.
If we were going off the numbers alone, this wouldn't even be a contest. Through five games in the NBA Finals, LeBron James has averaged 36.6 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 8.8 assists. The player on the Warriors with the most comparable stats has been Stephen Curry, who has averaged 26.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.8 assists. But those 26 points per game have been fairly quiet in comparison to LeBron's 36 points, so even though his scoring has been solid, he hasn't appeared to make the same type of impact with his scoring that LeBron has.
As for the player who everybody is saying should win the MVP award for the Warriors, Andre Iguodala, he has averaged 14.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. Those numbers are a fraction of what LeBron James is putting up, so clearly there has to be more to why he is getting MVP consideration than what we see on the stat sheet. The reason why Iguodala has been getting MVP consideration is for his defense and energy, but if you consider that his primary responsibility has been to prevent LeBron James from having big games, it's hard to say that he has done his job as well as everybody wants to believe. LeBron James has had his way with everybody on the Warriors and nobody on that team has been able to stop him, so with that being established, it's hard to argue a case for Iguodala.
I think that what really needs to be understood is that regardless of which team wins the series, LeBron James has been the most valuable player hands down. He has played the best of anybody while also simultaneously having to work harder than anybody. Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala have been able to rely on other teammates to step up for them and take the pressure off of their shoulders, making their workload lighter.
But as for LeBron James, he has had to carry his entire team on his back and exert way more energy than anybody else playing in this series. In addition to having to exert more energy and have more responsibility, he has had to produce at levels that nobody else on the Warriors could even conceive of doing. If you put Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, or Klay Thompson on the Cavaliers, none of those guys could be doing what LeBron James is doing even if they tried.
The bottom line is when you consider all that should be taken into an account for winning an NBA Finals MVP award, LeBron James is clearly the one who should be getting the award regardless of what happens in the series. He has played the best, done more to help his team win, exerted way more energy, and single-handedly made this series compelling.
The fate of this entire series revolves around LeBron James and whether or not he can continue to produce at such an elite level against a vastly superior team. No player on the Warriors has even come close to making this type of an impact on the series, which is why giving the NBA Finals MVP to a player on the Warriors would make a mockery of the award and require us to change its name from the "NBA Finals MVP" to "Best player on the winning team".
---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord for NBA news
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