Finals MVP— but no title— would be hollow consolation

CLEVELAND — Jerry West knows some things. He knows what it’s like to reach the NBA Finals and be turned away just as you can whiff the champagne. That happened to him an extraordinary EIGHT times in his playing career with the Lakers — six losses to the Celtics, two to the Knicks.

He knows what it is to be on top — he is the league logo, for goodness’ sake — and what it’s like to still absorb criticism. It’s probably why he took the extraordinary step of defending LeBron James last week even as West’s present team, the Warriors, for whom he serves as a consultant, in which he has an small ownership stake, was trying to hand LeBron a fourth pink slip from the Finals, put him halfway to West.

“To me,” West said, “the media ought to be embarrassed that they take him on.”

So it is probably worth revisiting something West wrote in his autobiography, “West by West,” four years ago, especially since we are nearing a moment when the people who vote for the Finals’ MVP may need to make a difficult decision. As you probably know by now, only one man in league history has taken home that trophy as a member of the losing team: Jerry West, 1969, after the Lakers lost a sixth time to the Celtics.

It has been Jeff Van Gundy who has been the loudest proponent of LeBron as MVP, win or lose, reaffirming that vote Sunday, during an extraordinary Game 5 in which James scored 40 points, had 14 rebounds, handed out 11 assists and was generally magnificent on both sides of the floor — as he’s been for four of the five games ( the other, Game 4, he was merely terrific). And you have to believe if this happens, James won’t turn the trophy down. He reminded us, after all, after Game 5 that he does not believe in false modesty, saying matter- of- factly during his postgame press conference: “I feel confident because I’m the best player in the world. It’s simple.”

Hey, a lot of us have been calling him that for years. Why should he recuse himself?

Back to Jerry West, though: In his memoir, West reflected on just howlittle of an honor he considered being a historical anomaly, essentially the world’s tallest midget, being honored as the best player from a losing team:

“I was rewarded, if you can call it that, with the MVP Award,” West writes. “I went to New York not long after to accept my booby prize, a brand- new, souped- up Dodge Charger — green, no less ( it was probably intended for a Celtic).

“I felt like putting a stick of dynamite in it and blowing it up, right there in Manhattan. Criticize me if you want, but that’s how I felt. As a team, we had let down the fans and the city of Los Angeles.”

West’s reaction is not atypical, actually. Thirty- five years after Bobby Richardson had been named MVP of the 1960 World Series — and, honestly, it’s impossible to believe anyone but Bill Mazeroski could have been given that honor— Richardson was at Yankee Stadium for Old- Timers’ Day and remembered how conflicted he was.

“Bittersweet,” said Richardson, given the award because he hit .367, with a grand slam, two triples and 12 RBIs. “But my far better World Series memory came two years later,” 1962, when he snared what would have been a game- winning line drive off the bat of San Francisco’sW illieM cCovey to end Game 7.

Similarly, Chuck Howley— MVP for the losing Cowboys in error marred Super Bowl V — was able to feel a little bit better about taking part in winning Super Bowl VI the next year. “Much more satisfying,” he said in the aftermath of the Cowboys’ 24- 3 drubbing of the Dolphins.

Maybe itwould feel less odd if the NBA did what the NHL does with the Conn Smythe Trophy, designating that honor to the best player for the entire playoffs. Five players from losing teams have earned that distinction, most recently JeanSebastien Giguere of Anaheim in 2003.

But that’s not what the NBA trophy is for. It’s for MVP of the Finals. Stephen Curry may have started to turn this all into a moot point in Game 5 with his magnificent 37- point, seven- 3s output, and if he performs similarly in the games remaining before a Warriors coronation, that could settle matters comfortably.

Of course, LeBron could do that, too. He could figure out a way to steal two more wins and complete this script he’s hinted at for five games, and if that happens it’s impossible to believe he won’t have a brilliant hand in it. That could make everybody ( east of Northern California, anyway) happy. Maybe even a Golden State exec named Jerry West, deep in his heart of hearts.