NBA Playoffs: Top 10 Leaders

Ralph Sarkis by Contributor Written on June 05, 2008
Xin_432020502154159319751_feature

This season's playoffs have been full of success stories and were full of great teams and performances. In this year's playoffs, we witnessed great trades make a final series no one would have expected at the end of last season.

The Big Three were even bigger then we thought and the Pau steal is something the Lakers should be arrested for. We also saw the Hornets go a long way in the playoffs, while the Spurs were more impressive than anyone expected.

Why was all this? That's easy; it was due to the fact that great leaders have been being there for their team whenever needed. With that said, I believe it's time for another top 10 list, this time ranking the best leaders so far in the playoffs.

10. Joe Johnson:

The Atlanta Hawks this year were the most shocking of all. They pushed a series with the best team in the league to game seven. How could such a thing happen? Two words: Joe Johnson. He was the reason Atlanta was so close to eliminating the C's in what was an exciting to say the least seven game series. Joe is a young leader that will be leading the Hawks for many years to come.

9. Tracy McGrady:

T-Mac was the slim hope in the Houston Rockets; it was his solid play that kept his team in the series for six games. He was the only good player on the Rockets and he managed to survive a sweep and reach a game six against the Jazz, who have more than one great player. His game proved to everyone in the league that next year with a healthy Yao, who knows how big of a contender they will be?

8. Dwight Howard:

The man-child was dominant to say the least in the series against the Raptors by recording two 20-20 games and proving to everyone that he's the most dominant C in the league. It was because of his play that the Magic passed the first round for the first time since the days of Shaq and Penny.

The Pistons, on the other hand were too much for one leader to manage and they fell short simply because they were facing a team full of leaders.

7. Richard Hamilton:

Chauncey Billups has been leading Detroit for many years in the playoffs, but this year he was faced with injury. Someone had to step up for the club and Hamilton answered the called and stepped up big time.

During the playoffs, Hamilton was 47 percent from the field, averaging over 20 points per game. He also shot 91 percent from the line and over 30 percent from the arch. His game was elevated to an even higher level and his performance kept Detroit from almost getting eliminated by the Orlando Magic.

6. Deron Williams:

Single Page
(0)
...
Share This  
Crop_45x45
or to post this comment

4 Comments

There are no comments yet. Get the conversation started by leaving the first comment

Loading more comments...
posted just now
  • Loading...
  • Nobody has liked this comment yet
Cancel

This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete

10,168
reads

4
comments

written on June 05, 2008 Rankings/List

The best newsletter on the web

Subscribe Now

We will never share your email address


CBS Sports Official Partner
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Getty Images.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Getty Images is strictly prohibited.