12/21/24
June 17, 2015
Golden State Warriors Win NBA Title: Stephen Curry scored 25 points and dished eight assists Tuesday as Golden State defeated Cleveland 105-97 to claim the Warriors' first NBA championship in four decades. LeBron James, who almost single-handedly made the series competitive, finished with 32 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists for the Cavaliers. Andre Iguodala of the Warriors was chosen as the NBA Finals MVP.
posted by rcade to basketball at 12:26 AM - 11 comments
Iggy wins the MVP because the Cavs ignore him on defense for the entire series. Warriors minus Iggy have a tough time in this series, the Warriors without Curry aren't even recognizable.
Great series. I was hoping James could pull it off just for how crazy the story would have been.
posted by tron7 at 01:06 AM on June 17, 2015
People were waiting for JR Smith to stop sucking and go into one of those nutty unconscious spells of his, and he finally did so - when it was too late. A couple of his 4th quarter threes were just ridiculous, with little or no shooting form and a defender draped all over him. If he had kept going and had helped the Cavs take the game when it looked like the Warriors were cruising home, that would have been wild.
Warriors minus Iggy have a tough time in this series, the Warriors without Curry aren't even recognizable.
One reason the Finals went as long as 6 games is because the Warriors were essentially playing without Klay Thompson. He was a non-factor and had a miserable series. Hope it wasn't because he was inappropriately rushed back into service after the head injury.
posted by beaverboard at 07:46 AM on June 17, 2015
I don't really understand how Iguodala can win the MVP, unless there is now a mandate from the league office that the player has to come from the winning team.
You have to come up with some weird rational not to give it to the obvious most valuable player in the Finals (James).
It's like when they handed out Hart trophies in the NHL to anyone other than Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky between 1980 and 1993.
posted by grum@work at 08:29 AM on June 17, 2015
the obvious most valuable player in the Finals (James)
James is the best player in the world and had great numbers in the series but I don't disagree with the Iguodala selection. Don't know if it was fatigue or just a sense of hopelessness but James appeared to shut it down early in games 5 and 6.
If James had some support such as a partially healthy Irving the outcome may have been different. Interestingly this is always the discussion when he doesn't win.
posted by cixelsyd at 09:49 AM on June 17, 2015
posted by yerfatma at 10:07 AM on June 17, 2015
To grum's point: I also have a problem with the idea (only in American sports?) that the MVP has to go to a player on the winning team. International counterexample: Diego Forlan winning the Golden Ball at the 2010 World Cup. Uruguay came in third in that tournament.
posted by sbacharach at 12:37 PM on June 17, 2015
The Golden Ball is for an entire tournament, not just the final game/series. The Conn Smythe also covers the whole playoffs in hockey and has gone to a losing player five times (goalie Roger Crozier of the Detroit Red Wings in 1966, goalie Glenn Hall of the St. Louis Blues in 1968, right wing Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Fliers in 1976, goalie Ron Hextall of the Fliers in 1987 and goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks in 2003).
The Super Bowl has awarded the MVP to a losing player once (Dallas Cowboys linebacker Chuck Howley in 1971). The World Series also has done it once (New York Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson in 1960). The NBA has done it once (Los Angeles Lakers guard Jerry West in 1969).
I don't mind it going to a losing player, but LeBron James only led the Cavaliers to two wins in the Finals and the last two losses were not competitive. That's not enough to merit MVP consideration.
posted by rcade at 02:31 PM on June 17, 2015
You have to come up with some weird rational not to give it to the obvious most valuable player in the Finals (James).
Iguodala (like Kawhi Leonard last year) kept the best player in the game from winning the championship. The Warriors were down 1-2 (2 straight, remember, after Kyrie Irving's injury) when Kerr started him. They won the next three games by 42 combined points.
International counterexample: Diego Forlan winning the Golden Ball at the 2010 World Cup. Uruguay came in third in that tournament.
The Golden Ball is for the entire tournament -- the NBA Finals MVP is expressly for the best player in the 4-7 games played between the winners of the Western and Eastern Conferences.
Ditto the regular-season MVP award -- it can absolutely be said that a player on even a non-playoff team was still the most valuable to his team (or the league as a whole), elevating them from a 10-72 crapstack to a .500 team.
But giving the MVP of the championship series to a player from the losing team doesn't make a lot of sense -- if Lebron had injured himself in the first minute of Game 1 and sat out the rest of the Finals, the result is still a Warriors championship.
posted by Etrigan at 02:48 PM on June 17, 2015
Iguodala (like Kawhi Leonard last year) kept the best player in the game from winning the championship.
Iguodala was key both defensively and offensively. He enabled the Warriors to completely blow up the Cavs scheme of double teaming Curry every time Seth got the ball. Iggy served as a double team outlet option then essentially ran 4 on 3 drills as a second 1 (point guard).
The Cavs only success came earlier in the series when the Warriors played a lineup where Draymond Green was the outlet. Draymond can handle the ball well for a big but he is certainly no comparison to Iggy in the position.
Curry merits consideration for his unbelievable ability to draw the double and make great passes out of it. He had more turnovers than usual but was battling 2 taller and usually pretty decent defensive players.
posted by cixelsyd at 03:14 PM on June 17, 2015
While I would have been ok with it going to LeBron (he should get some kind of Lifetime Achievement Oscar for dragging multiple .500 teams to the Finals), I'm really happy for Iguodala. He toiled in anonymity on some shitty Sixers teams and I always hoped the Celtics would poach him before the rest of the league noticed how good he is. He feels like one of the prototypical New NBA players, a three-and-D wing around 6'8".
posted by yerfatma at 03:57 PM on June 17, 2015
I wonder how much longer the NBA will trot out Bill Russell to "hand out" the MVP award. He was literally being held up during the award presentation.