In fact, I'll take it a step further, he DEFINES what an MVP actually is.
Most VALUABLE Player. Not the best player, the most valuable.
The definition needs to change after watching that game on Sunday night because if it wasn't for Ibaka's impact on the court, the Thunder would have found themselves in a 3-0 hole heading into Tuesday.
Kevin Durant, yes he had 25 points and played a solid game, but he clearly doesn't impact this series and hasn't been the ultimate dictator of this series . The previous 2 games, the Spurs had 120 points in the paint. Game 3, they had 40. Last time I checked, KD doesn't impact that portion of the stat sheet.
You know as a Spurs fan, I'm going to generically say that we lost on Sunday because we couldn't make shots... well why do you think that is? It wasn't because of KD.
Now, I love Durant and have nothing against him, but do you think he truly makes his entire team better? How come Durant and Carmelo Anthony can't win MVP's? Because they don't impact their teams in other phases of the game outside of putting the ball in the hoop themselves! They are unbelievable scoring options and they can create space for themselves and provide options for other teammates to score because of their ability to attract double teams, but outside of scoring, what do they really offer?
Durant was so amazing this year that we had to hand him the MVP because if we didn't, it would be a travesty to sports and all of it's entirety and I agree he deserved the award.
Let me ask the internet something, do you think Melo could do the same thing? I believe he can and eventually will when he goes to Chicago this off-season.
Melo is a 30-7-4 (Points-Rebounds-Assists) guy too, he just can't find a team to provide the spark that fortunately KD has had the past 4-5 years. Do those numbers make Melo an "MVP" candidate? Does that make him valuable? No, that makes him a fantastic option, and an option so good this past season we had to give him the best player of the year award which unfortunately is misnamed for that very reason. Melo does the same thing, but he's just looked at as a scorer who can't impact his team in any other facets.
The NBA needs to make a new award, plain and simple. Look at players who have won the award in the past: LeBron, Nash, Duncan, & Shaq. Those players were the definition of MVP's because they provided roles that molded around what the team truly needed because without those players, there is no way their teams get to the postseason or at least have a chance at competing with the elite teams. Guys who have won it like Kobe, Rose, Garnett, and Dirk all won the award because they were the best players in the league in the given years they won the MVP. That didn't mean their impact was necessarily needed to win ballgames at an exponential level like the other guys listed.
You can say that for KD this season with the injuries to Russell Westbrook and all the other issues the team had that he deserved the MVP, (and again it's completely fair to round those issues up to giving KD the MVP for 2013-2014 which I'm not saying he doesn't deserve) but just look at how this series has gone and don't tell me KD is the MVP after these first three games because Ibaka has clearly been the MVP of this team for all three games (playing or not).
Maybe instead of just saying they need to make a new award, they just need to make a Playoff MVP and give Ibaka the award, because clearly Durant has been acting MVP-less in this Western Conference Finals to this point and his impact to this point has been relatively unimportant.
See you next week.
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