Comments on: The Best NBA Finals Performances Since 1991 (*according to statistical +/-)

By: Lucas

Lucas — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:14:54 +0000

could you update it, now that the series is over please??

By: Jason J

Jason J — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:03:38 +0000

Scottie shot 34% for that series. At least MJ stayed aggressive and got to the free throw line. In fact his finals composite box score is more efficient than Rose was this playoffs. Scottie just gave up on offense and started bombing threes. Credit to a great Seattle team D, but honestly the whole team had their legs by this series. When Ron Harper got hurt and they lost the 5th best player in their 7 man rotation, they were really hurting. I've heard more than a few people say Rodman should have been Finals MVP though he got lit up by Kemp.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:50:07 +0000

Bill,

Yes Jordan didn't play up to his standards in games 4-6, but neither did Pippen.

Gm 4: 4-17 for 9 pts
Gm 5: 5-20 for 14 pts
Gm 6: 7-17 for 17 pts

40 pts on 54 shots over the last 3 gms is terrible and isn't going to earn MVP for anyone.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:48:40 +0000

@19.

1996. Pippen 6.55 over Jordan 5.73 - Not much of a margin in that one. Probably could have gone either way, which in reality means Jordan's way.
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Check out Jordan's stats. He was murdering Chicago in games 4-6 of that series. Pippen won that series for the Bulls, and was robbed.

In 2005, Manu should have won (even though Duncan's a foreigner, too). The Pistons could stop Duncan, but they couldn't stop the refs who loved Manu.

By: Raj

Raj — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:11:00 +0000

@20

my guess would be that in a sweep, esp. of a really good team which '95 orlando was, you almost have to have a bunch of guys have great numbers. and given the smallest possible sample size of four games, I think it's fairly likely that a non-superstar really shines. in fact, i wouldnt be surprised in the least if during the Dallas-Lakers series this year Terry (esp. helped by his 8/9 from 3 game 4) had a higher SPM than Dirk. Kidd too and maybe even Peja.

By: cort

cort — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:34:08 +0000

#19 I posted in another recent blog that Manu clearly deserved the 2005 Finals MVP. This analysis definitely supports that idea, especially with a huge discrepancy between Manu's #11 performance of the past 20 years, and Duncan's 115th ranked performance in that series. Duncan got that MVP due to bias against foreigners and because people like Timmy. Plus, people didnt understand Manu's contributions above and beyond stats and werent ready to believe he was a greta player. He has great intangibles.

By: NBAGuru

NBAGuru — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:53:39 +0000

Yeah, I noticed Hakeem's absurdly low 1995 per-minute ranking as well. Anyone care to delve into the numbers there?

By: themojojedi

themojojedi — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 23:41:39 +0000

The weighted SPM seems to agree quite closely with the official Finals MVP award. But which snubs do you think have legitimate grievance for Finals MVPs by this method? I'm only mentioning guys who played 36+ minutes and were on the winning team (Sorry to a surprisingly impressive 1994 Derek Harper).

1995. Horry 5.2 over Hakeem 3.39 - One of many nice performances by Horry, + an iron-man at 46.8mpg. Steals valued (too?) highly and doesn't account for how much he benefited from playing with Hakeem. No case here.

1996. Pippen 6.55 over Jordan 5.73 - Not much of a margin in that one. Probably could have gone either way, which in reality means Jordan's way.

2005. Manu 8.41 over Duncan 0.45 - Surprisingly huge margin on this one. Could make a strong case for Manu.

2007. Duncan 7.46 over Parker 4.65 - Many agreed at the time that Duncan should have been the Finals MVP. Duncan hard done by. (Also Manu had a higher score than both but played less than 30mpg)

2008. Ray Allen 6.55 over Pierce 2.96 - Ray Allen's mum just angrily ripped off her Ray-Ray jersey like the Incredible Hulk.

By: themojojedi

themojojedi — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:45:45 +0000

2nd worst Finals performance by weighted SPM in the last 20 years? It sure doesn't feel that Chris Bosh is playing THAT badly.

By: NBAGuru

NBAGuru — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:31:55 +0000

By the way, looking at the chart, the only entries who played as many/more minutes than Duncan in 03 with higher SPM were Jordan 91, Jordan 93 and Shaq 00. I can live with that.