The 2018 NBA Playoff Awards: Who's the MVP of the Postseason?

The 2018 NBA Finals are done, giving the Golden State Warriors full-fledged dynasty status and the Cleveland Cavaliers nightmares about LeBron James' next free-agency decision.

History will remember those items as the top takeaways from this postseason, but the stat sheets will show 14 other clubs participated in this dance, too.

We've put the entire playoff field under the same microscope to salute the second season's top standouts with postseason versions of familiar hardware.

While all players are eligible, these awards skew toward those whose teams enjoyed the most success. There's more of an opportunity to perform, plus the stakes rise during each subsequent round.

That doesn't mean everyone must be a champion or even a Finalist, but winning matters—just like it does when regular-season trophies are handed out.

Coach of the Playoffs: Brad Stevens

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Teams don't normally have postseason runs like the one Brad Stevens orchestrated for the Boston Celtics.

The Shamrocks lost their two highest-profile players to injury before the playoffs and still celebrated two series victories. Three of their top four scorers were a rookie, a sophomore and a third-year guard with 16 career starts, and yet they were the first team to take LeBron James to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals since 2013, when the Indiana Pacers went the distance with the Miami Heat.

"I think they are one of the most well-coached teams in our league," James said, per NESN.com's Dakota Randall. "... [Stevens] can put guys in position to succeed and get the most out of whoever has been in their lineup."

Stevens' biggest flaw was either not having James on his team or not having healthy versions of Gordon Hayward (ankle) and Kyrie Irving (knee) at his disposal.

Even without them, Boston went 11-8 over three rounds, posting the fourth-best defensive efficiency and second-lowest turnover percentage. Not bad for a team whose most used playoff lineup logged just 20 minutes together during the regular season.

Runner-Up: Mike D'Antoni

Despite a showdown with the defending champs and a crushing hamstring injury to Chris Paul, D'Antoni made sure the Houston Rockets stayed true to themselves. No team shot more threes (39.8 per game) or ran more isolations (20.5). Unsurprisingly, the formula wasn't the same without Paul, but it worked well enough to give Houston this postseason's second-best winning percentage (.647).

Sixth Man of the Playoffs: Eric Gordon

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The regular-season version of this award often goes to the best second-team volume scorer, and Eric Gordon fits that definition.

He came off the bench 15 times and scored 220 points in those games (14.7 per contest). Boston's Marcus Morris was the only other reserve to clear 151 points (184).

Gordon didn't have the surest shooting postseason (38.0/33.1/83.6), but he stayed relentless in his attacks. That unwavering aggressiveness helped him top 20 points three times in the conference finals, averaging 3.7 triples and 5.7 free throws in those contests.

His postseason run became defined more by moments than consistent dominance.

He was magical in Game 3 of the conference semis against the Utah Jazz, tying for the team lead in points (25) and owning it in triples (four). That's the contest that helped Houston grab control of the series, and it was one in which Paul and James Harden shot a combined 3-of-15 from distance. Gordon was huge again in Game 2 of the conference finals, scoring 27 points on 15 shots.

For someone with limited experience as a reserve before last season, Gordon looks like a natural.

Runner-Up: Dwyane Wade

This tied for the second-shortest playoff run of Wade's career, but he found a way to thrill in limited time. The 36-year-old essentially became the Heat's only hope against the upstart Philadelphia 76ers. They held him to 11 points or fewer in three games, which the Heat lost by 60 combined points. But he had 53 points on 38 shots in the two others—one a 10-point win, the other a four-point defeat.

Rookie of the Playoffs: Jayson Tatum

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Jayson Tatum turned 20 years old in March. Over the next two months, he'd string eight 21-plus-point playoff performances together and finish as the leading scorer of a conference finalist.

"He's built for stardom," James said, per ESPN.com's Chris Forsberg. "He's built for success. And that's both on and off the floor."

Tatum's 351 points ranked sixth overall and trailed only in-prime All-Stars. They were also the second-most ever provided by an NBA freshman in the postseason, finishing just behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 352.

This wasn't just volume scoring, either. Tatum made 47.1 percent of his field goals. For context, LeBron shot 47.6 percent during his playoff debut.

Tatum's production also carried undeniable importance. Boston posted a plus-3.7 net rating with him and a minus-8.6 mark without. That's roughly the statistical equivalent of the Celtics playing like their 55-win selves when he's in and worse than the 55-loss Sacramento Kings when he doesn't.

The coupling of Tatum's significance with Boston's success gives him the edge over a couple of other phenomenal freshmen. 

Runner-Up: Donovan Mitchell

The Jazz made the second round with Joe Ingles and Ricky Rubio finishing as their second- and third-best playoff scorers. That's how incredible Mitchell was on the offensive end. He paced the freshmen field in points per game (24.4), finished second in assists (4.2) and tied Anthony Davis for the most 20-point outbursts of a non-conference finalist (nine).

Utah's reliance on Mitchell pushed him just ahead of Ben Simmons, who dazzled in his initial playoff voyage (16.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 7.7 assists) but didn't always have to be his team's top performer.

Most Improved of the Playoffs: Terry Rozier

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Terry Rozier entered the postseason with a mostly anonymous resume and three-year career averages of 7.2 points on 37.7 percent shooting and 18.9 minutes per game. He left the playoffs with both a nickname and a wildly rerouted career trajectory.

"You may not have known who Scary Terry was before," The Ringer's Jack McCluskey wrote, "but if you've been paying attention to the injury-riddled Celtics in the playoffs to date, you do now."

Rozier, playing in place of the hobbled Irving, made it clear early in the postseason this playoff run would be different.

He scored 23 points each in Games 1 and 2 of the opening round against the Milwaukee Bucks, punctuating the first with a clutch step-back and supplementing the second with 57.1 percent shooting and eight assists against zero turnovers. He'd go on to total six 20-point outings—just one fewer than he provided during the entire regular season.

His final playoff contributions looked nothing like the modest marks he'd posted over his previous two postseason trips. He transformed from being a nightly supplier of 5.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists to a budding star with averages of 16.5 points, 5.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds.

Runner-Up: Victor Oladipo

Oladipo should run away with the regular-season version of this award, and he nearly took this one, too. During his second career playoff trip, he more than doubled his previous points (from 10.8 to 22.7) and tripled both his assists (2.0 to 6.0) and player efficiency rating (6.9 to 22.0). But it's tough to give Oladipo a postseason-long honor when his team was only around for seven games of it.

Defensive Player of the Playoffs: Draymond Green

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During the regular season, Draymond Green eased into his top gear on the defensive end. But he sprinted into the playoffs and never slowed.

His first-round work included rebounding totals of 18 and 19 (10 and 14 on the defensive end alone), a four-block performance and three games with multiple steals against the San Antonio Spurs. By postseason's end, he'd grabbed the most defensive boards (180), snared the most steals (41) and blocked the second-most shots (31). His 99.5 defensive rating tied for second-lowest among all players who averaged 30-plus minutes.

His ability to defend any position at any area on the floor is the backbone of this defense, which easily paced playoff participants with a 100.5 defensive rating. The eye test captures his full importance, but the stat sheet does a good job of summing things up, too—the Warriors surrendered 5.1 fewer points per 100 possessions when he played.

The 99.5 mark with Green was two points lower per 100 possessions than the regular season's best defense (Boston). And that's with Golden State's playoff road featuring two top-five offenses and a third in the top 10.

"Draymond is a catalyst and the anchor for their defense. Very, very smart defensively," James said, per Fred Kerber of the New York Post. "He knows pretty much every set. He kind of flies around and dictates their defense, either on the perimeter or protecting the rim as well."

Green proved to be an elite, equal-opportunity stopper. He not only allowed one of the lowest shooting percentages at the rim among high-volume defenders (53.3), but he also sliced 9.8 points off his opponents' conversion rate from 15-plus feet.

Runner-Up: Anthony Davis

Traditional stats would've given Davis the nod. He averaged more defensive rebounds than anyone (10.8), tied for the most blocks among players with four or more appearances (2.3) and even tied for fifth in steals (2.0). But New Orleans' second-round exit and sixth-placed finish in defensive efficiency somewhat muted Davis' impact.

Playoff MVP: LeBron James

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The playoff path James traversed was unprecedented.

It's hard enough carrying a fourth seed to the Finals—the Celtics were the last to get there in 2010—but it's preposterous to win that many games with only one other teammate averaging double-digit points (Kevin Love, 14.9).

James did everything for the Cleveland Cavaliers, leading them in minutes, points, assists, steals and blocks. He was the first postseason participant ever to tally at least 700 points, 200 rebounds and 150 assists. He only sat for 144 minutes of Cleveland's entire run, and the team still cratered when he did (minus-7.3 net rating, which would have ranked 28th this season).

Oh, and he divulged that he "pretty much played the last three games [of the Finals] with a broken hand," per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin and Brian Windhorst. James averaged 43.8 minutes, 28.3 points on 49.2 percent shooting, 10.7 assists and 8.7 rebounds in those contests.

"He's terrifying," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said, per AJ Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today. "He really is. ... I think maybe the greatest testament to LeBron is that five years ago he was one of the top-five players of all time. From five years ago until now, it seems like he's 10 times better, because he's added so much skill to his game."

James' final postseason tallies put him first in points (34.0), tied for first in minutes (41.9), third in assists (9.0) and 14th in rebounds (9.1). Even at 33 years old, he appears in no grave danger of losing his best-player-on-the-planet status.

Runner-Up: Kevin Durant

Durant saved his best for last, locking up his second consecutive Finals MVP with 43 points on 23 shots in Game 3 and a 20-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in the finale. For the postseason, he was good for 29.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.2 blocks per game.

Anthony Davis is the only other player who might make a statistical case for silver (30.1 points, 13.4 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 2.0 steals), but once you account for the team success and high-pressure stakes, Durant takes second place.

Unless otherwise indicated, all stats are from Basketball Reference or NBA.com.

Zach Buckley covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @ZachBuckleyNBA.