NBA Playoffs 2012: 4 Players Who Have Re-Invented Themselves in the Playoffs
The NBA postseason is nothing if not an opportunity for the league's best players to prove themselves on its biggest stage.
For some, that means doing more of the same, but for others, it requires an entirely new approach. In a world where only the fittest survive, adaptation is a must.
The teams still alive in the second round of these playoffs owe their fortunes in large part to guys who were willing to do what their teams needed them to do, even when that meant making some changes.
Here are four standouts who did just that.
Kevin Garnett, PF/C (Boston Celtics)
Toward the end of the regular season, Doc Rivers shuffled his rotation to get power forward Brandon Bass into the starting lineup. That meant Kevin Garnett would slide over to the center position, a move that would force him to defend and box out bigger guys.
The upshot, though, is that Garnett is all the more able to exploit his quickness on offense. Even more importantly, the bigs guarding Garnett have struggled to stay with him on pick-and-pop jump shots.
KG has made a living drifting to the top of the key and finding himself wide open. To that end, Garnett has thus far raised his scoring average in the playoffs by almost four points more than the 15.8 he averaged in the regular season. His return to significance has been one part reinvention and one part sheer renewal.
Manu Ginobili, SG (San Antonio Spurs)
Ginobili is no stranger to coming off the bench, but he's reprising that role a bit differently these days. With the 34-year-old missing 32 games this season, San Antonio's bench became fairly self-sufficient thanks to contributions from Gary Neal, Stephen Jackson, Tiago Splitter and Matt Bonner.
Once depended on as a relatively lone scoring option, Ginobili is now called upon to pick his spots a bit more carefully. He didn't reach a double-digit point total in any of his first three playoff games, but he did tally 10 assists in Game 3 against the Utah Jazz.
When the Spurs needed his scoring in Game 4, Ginobili scored 17 points in 27 minutes. Then, in Game 1 vs. the Clippers, he scored 22 in 27 minutes.
Ginobili may not take over games like he used to, but he can still take them over at crucial moments.
Ramon Sessions, PG (Los Angeles Lakers)
It wouldn't be entirely accurate to say Sessions has re-invented himself in this postseason alone, but the shortened half-a-season he played with the Los Angeles Lakers was hardly an extensive trial run as Mike Brown's starting point guard.
Having spent much of his career coming off the bench for mediocre (at best) teams, Sessions is still finding his way as the man chiefly responsible for distributing the ball to the All-Star likes of Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. The evolution remains a work in progress to be sure, though. Sessions is averaging just 10.5 points and 3.9 assists in the postseason, but he's undoubtedly learning plenty on the job.
Nick Young, SG (Los Angeles Clippers)
Like Sessions, Nick Young only had a couple of months to acclimate himself to an entirely new situation in Los Angeles. Young had become a fairly regular starter in his last two seasons with the Washington Wizards, but he's been asked to take on a more limited role with the Clippers.
Young's minutes aren't what they were with the Wizards, and he's essentially become a sixth man on Vinny Del Negro's bench. Nevertheless, Young has taken the transition in stride, making almost 46 percent of his postseason field-goal attempts and hitting some crucial threes in the process.
This more efficient version of Nick Young has been a valuable asset for the Clippers and was one of the team's few bright spots in their Game 1 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the second round.
