Handwringing over who should have won MVP is raging out of control
Denver’s Nikola Jokic deserved to win NBA MVP. So did Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.
Unless somehow the ballots from 100 voters resulted in a two-way or three-way tie – an unlikely scenario – only one player can win the award.
And this year, Jokic won the award for the second consecutive season, and it’s not a popular decision in Philadelphia and certain segments of NBA Twitter.
Impetuous Sixers fans are upset Embiid didn’t win, and there’s also the possibility that Embiid is unhappy he didn’t win.
There’s nothing wrong with that either. Players like to win awards, and there’s prestige that comes along with winning MVP, plus a bonus and more endorsement opportunities (unless you’re Jokic who isn’t interested in those sponsorship deals). Plus, there’s a narrow window when a player in his prime to win the award.
But there’s also nothing wrong with finishing in the top three and being considered one of the three best players in the world. No matter what order a voter listed Antetokounmpo, Embiid and Jokic, they were not wrong. And not every voter listed those players 1-2-3.
I understand that in hot-take culture it’s required to have outrage about everything. But this isn’t it. That’s not to say there isn’t room for healthy debate and discussion. It was that close by any measurement, eye test and obstacles overcome. As I wrote late in the regular season, all three make a great case. It was difficult to rank them in order.
Embiid had a great season, and if he had won, I would’ve used the same rationale. No matter who won among Antetokounmpo, Embiid and Jokic, it’s the fourth consecutive season a player born outside of the US has won MVP.
It’s gotten to the point that no matter who wins an award in the NBA, there’s almost always a massive gripe. It happened when Scottie Barnes won Rookie of the Year and when Ja Morant won Most Improved. And if someone other than Barnes and Morant didn’t win those awards, there still would have been complaints about who won. Same thing will happen for Coach of the Year. It seems Tyler Herro’s Sixth Man Award is the only universally-accepted voting outcome.
One of the objections to Jokic winning again is that “nerds with calculators” had a bias against Embiid as if somehow Jokic didn’t pass the eye test. But if you watched Jokic this season, it’s easy to see what a gifted player he is, especially with his scoring, passing and rebounding.
And the idea that advanced stats or analytics somehow propelled Jokic to MVP is absurd. Voters use a variety of data (traditional stats, advanced stats, wins-losses) to inform their decision. But it’s not the only thing. The people selected to vote spent an entire season watching games. They don’t rely on just one thing to make their decision.
The NBA isn’t expected to formally announce Jokic as MVP until Wednesday, and that’s when the voting results will be released. It might end up one of the closest MVP votes in league history.
(USA Today/TNS)
Celtics 116, Bucks 108
Al Horford poured in a career-playoffhigh 30 points as visiting Boston beat Milwaukee on Monday night to even their Eastern Conference semifinal series at two games apiece.
The 15-year NBA veteran shot 11-of14 from the field, including a 5-of-7 mark from three-point range, to swing homecourt advantage back in Boston’s favor. The Celtics overcame an 11-point, third-quarter deficit.
Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Wednesday in Boston.
Jayson Tatum also had 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Celtics, and Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart both tallied 18 points. Smart dished out eight assists.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was outstanding once again, pacing Milwaukee with 34 points, 18 rebounds and five assists. He shot 14-of-32 from the floor.
Jrue Holiday contributed 16 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, and Brook Lopez supplied 17 points and seven rebounds.
Boston went on a 10-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to tie the game, and the Celtics outscored the Bucks 43-28 in the final period. It was the Celtics’ highest-scoring quarter through eight playoff games this year.
Horford scored two buckets in the opening 2:09 of the fourth quarter, including a dunk that tied it at 80-80. He later made two go-ahead three-pointers, putting Boston ahead 88-85 and later giving the Celtics a 95-94 edge that it never relinquished.
Warriors 101, Grizzlies 98 Stephen Curry had a game-high 32 points, including two key free throws with 45.7 seconds remaining, and host Golden State held on over Ja Morant-less Memphis for a 3-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal playoff series.
Despite having coach Steve Kerr on the sidelines due to a positive COVID test, the Warriors were able to overcome 9-for-37 shooting on three-pointers to move within one game of their sixth trip to the Western Finals in the last eight seasons.
Warriors assistant Mike Brown, named earlier in the day as the next head coach of the Sacramento Kings, replaced Kerr at the front of the bench.
With Morant unable to play because of a right knee injury sustained in the fourth quarter of Game 3, the Grizzlies stunned the Warriors with a 15-8 start and led by as many as 12 early on.
Memphis, in fact, never trailed until the final minute.
After Curry had drawn the Warriors even on a jumper with 3:25 remaining, the Grizzlies went back up 93-90 on a Jaren Jackson Jr. interior hoop and Kyle Anderson free throw with 2:32 to go.
Neither team scored again until Jordan Poole hit two free throws with 1:11 remaining to make it a one-point game, setting the stage for a Curry parade to the foul line, where he hit eight straight in crunch time to seal it. (Reuters)